I drove past a couple of memories the other day. Heischman Park was a little neighborhood oasis, far enough from my childhood home on Halligan Avenue to be an adventure, but close enough that Mom could easily track me down. All the original play equipment has now been replaced by newer and undoubtedly safer versions. Gone are the tall metal poles we shimmied up in hopes of ringing the bell at the top. The long swing chains that groaned and creaked as we tested their limits have also been replaced. -But the tree I regularly and impulsively climbed only to realize I had no idea how to initiate a descent… it was still there.
Our one-time neighborhood in Elida, Ohio also had a park, a vast field used for community events, bordered with all varieties of antiquated play equipment. My oldest son (around five or six at the time) and I would run the mile or so from our house, and I’d stand close by as he tested himself by climbing up and over a ten foot metal sphere, jumping on and off of a spinning merry-go-round and on odd looking horse swings that took more than a little coordination to get started. We usually walked back home, kicking a rock back and forth between us the whole way.
There is no neighborhood park where we live now, but there’s a woods, stream and pond to explore. And, I recognize that independent, “off on an adventure” look in my youngest son’s eyes when he heads into the woods with his buddies as a match for the surge I felt -as I pedaled my bike to Heischman Park and that confounding tree.
I can imagine this neigbourhood and the tree. I had a tree similar to this when I was young. Too bad the tree gave me a broken leg. I thought I was superwoman and tried to fly with my terry towl cape.
I love the colours in your shots, so crisp and fresh. Summer has arrived!
I’ve always enjoyed reading your blog and listening to your great voice through audio. Thanks for visiting my blog, have a wonderful Sunday !!!
Great memories. What would we do without them as our children get older and turn into different people from those dependent children of the past? I guess, in time, we see it all again through their children.
Cate: That’s what I was worried about! I tried the flying thing too, but with a plastic garbage bag and from a safer altitude, apparently!
How are you liking the US, so far?!
mee mOe: Thanks for the kind words! I always enjoy catching up on your sites.
Suzanne: Yes. The boy I guided home from that Elida park towers over me now. The new memories we create are just as good, but I sometimes wish there were a way to layer them all on at once!