Growing up where you never find a black raspberry overlooked by foraging birds and pop it in your mouth to savor the wild, tart flavor.
Never being able to ramble at will, wandering aimlessly, lost in imagination, immersed in passive education, learning from living. Letting your mind run unfettered and free.
No mud puddles. No tire swings.
No secret rays of sun slanting down to reveal some hidden delight, deep in the wild jungles of the backyard or the edge of the hay field.
Missing out on that first wild deer staring back at you from a dew-soaked hedgerow, and the thunder of a Ruffed Grouse winging away through the pines.
Never climbing a real tree, skinning your legs on the sharp bark as you shinny and shove your way to a mysterious vantage point looking down on a different world.
Never hiding in a grass fort with a magical book that spirits you away to places no one has ever seen except among its pages.
Imagine a world without the Internet and never missing it. Dewey Decimal anyone? I have since embraced it with great glee. It's kinda nice to be able to know almost anything you want to learn but freedom was better.
I feel sorry for kids who are missing out on the joy of running wild in the world and trusting yourself to find your way home.
It's kinda sad.
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It's very sad. It's also infuriating to think what America has become, and how parents are punished for letting their kids do what you've described. That's assuming, of course, that one can get the kids to put down their iPhones long enough to go outside.
It is sad but they aren't us, and it is a different world for them to conquer their way, keep be there for answers, ideas an support. You have said it so well.
It is sad. But some of us are lucky and our grandchildren get to know lots of the world we knew growing up. Which is a very nice thing.
Oh how I remember the wonders you describe, following the Dupree kids to "Hidden City" and imagining someday following all the various paths that wind their way among the fields and grasses. Picking currants and lying under the bushes gazing up at a summer blue sky through a chain of red berries and branches; spending a summer day under the large maple tree shaping the fluffy clouds to fit our imagination; the second day of summer vacation going strawberry picking so Mom could make jam for winter; sharing the early evening with Aunt Billie and her girls on their massive porch and watching the fireflies come out to greet us; looking forward to the Independence Day Holiday and the fireworks and sparklers and snakes and firecrackers and caps for our cap guns; climbing the oaks in back of Uncle Joe's and swinging like Tarzan on the vines that grew there; playing softball with the neighbor kids until Mother blew the whistle for us to come home and get to bed. The wonders have survived two generations, hopefully they will continue for many more to come. Love, Mom
Rev. Paul, you are exactly right. And here in the Northeast the surging tick population makes outdoor play like we enjoyed as kids downright hazardous. I suspect the suspension of wide-spread use of pesticides may be more to blame than the climate, but for whatever reason, even backyards are full of deadly creatures. Sad
Earl, thanks, they are very different, but still the same in many ways. I have friends among my kids' friends and know their children too. They are more open to ideas than the media would have you think...or so it seems.
LInda, yes! I wish the ticks weren't so bad these days so I could take Peggy out walking more. I don't like to bathe her in bug dope, but you don't have much choice.
Mom, thank you for sharing your memories! We probably played in some of the same places when we stayed at Grandma's house. We sure did like to play under those big maples across the street. I have my own currant bushes now and I think of those days whenever I grab a handful. Love you!
" . . . .the joy of running wild in the world and trusting yourself to find your way home." Oh Marianne. Poetic and poignantly profound .
I am spoiled. I go for walks daily and, yes, pick black raspberries for the last week. I cannot get "lost" in our 35 acres, but I am lost to the city folks who drive by at speeds well above the speed limit. I have a brush pile where I go daily to sit beside or inside if the weather is not to my liking. The mosquitoes are bad but have not driven me inside this year yet and, so far this year, only 3 ticks have stayed on me long enough for me to find and remove. I had 30 plus ticks a couple of years ago but a lot less now that everyone else says they are so bad. Reports from my daughter, who does live in the city, are of going to conservation areas to find bugs and birds so I think my granddaughter is not so caught up in the iPhone. Perhaps me more than her?
I am actually enjoying the covid isolation as my partner and I spend more time together with the dog on at least 2 daily walks together and I have discovered that the grocery store in the nearby town will deliver what I order on line faster than if I actually drove to town to buy the goods myself. I may never go to a grocery store again.
Cathy, thank you so much for your kind words!
OW, so nice to have you stop by and comment! Sounds like you are truly enjoying the outdoors. How nice to get grocery delivery! That is really awesome. Shopping has been challenging since the covid lockdowns began, but now that half of NYC is here in the Adirondack foothills to get away from the city it is a nightmare. I could get behind never going to the store again. Take care, and enjoy your summer!
Oh,very sad, indeed! I don't think many kids these days ever get to wander alone or with just a pal or two, even their children's games are all organized and supervised by adults, with praise for "winners" and discouragement for "losers." Your description of your childhood was so very much like my own, with lakes and streams and meadows and barns and woods and sandy lanes, and above all, the freedom to wander them alone. Just be home for dinner! Now that I'm an old lady with few responsibilities to anyone else, that's what my life is like now. But I do make it home to fix dinner for my hubby!
Jacqueline, I suppose that is one small positive of the plague. We saw more people out in nature as families than we ever have before. We are still seeing a lot of kids on bikes that we didn't for ages.
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