Baser Instincts
It happens every year.
Something about the 4th of July rolling around kicks off this big ol’ wave of nostalgia.
I’m not sure what it’s about, but it never fails.
Granted, if you haven’t gathered by now, I’m one of those lucky folks whose inner child is not very far from the surface at any given time.
I may grow older, but I refuse to grow up. I’m certain this will only benefit my soon-to-be-born daughter. (Until such time as she gets to that age where my mere presence will mortify her to undisclosed degrees, and it will be all “Gawd, Mom….can’t you just act, like, *normal* for once?” as she pops her gum and pulls out her (prepaid) cell phone to lament to all her friends about what a Class-A Dork she has for a maternal figure).
But perhaps I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here.
I’m very much looking forward to re-re-(re)-living my childhood through the eyes of my daughter.
And even though I’m a firm believer that there are no Rules in adulthood that say that you can’t still play with toys, or walk around work all day in your capacity as manager with a Rainbow Fish finger puppet on, (oh, yes I have….I have witnesses!), or get a big Bomb Pop from the ice cream man…..something about this time of year makes me nostalgic for the good old days.
I grew up in the best neighborhood ever..in Michigan…..we lived in a cul-de-sac and knew ALL our neighbors. We were all always in and out of each others’ houses, and every 4th of July we closed off the street and had a big ol’ block party. It was awesome!
Huge picnic, fireworks, watermelon dripping off every chin….those were the days!
Nowadays I’m on no more than nodding aquaintance with any of my neighbors, and they’d probably wonder what I was smoking or what I was hitting them up for if I just wandered over to say ‘hi’. It’s just different now.
So yes, I miss the good ol’ days. Days when we were ruled by our baser instincts. And with that in mind, I came up with a handy list. I give you:
Mary’s Top 5 Missed Childhood Memories
(this is discounting people, btw…just general stuff)
1. Playing Outside
Now I know that I am still very capable (and even likely) to play outside. I’m talking about the fact that THIS WAS ALL YOU HAD TO DO ALL DAY. You know, wake up, have some breakfast, and go play outside. When your biggest concern was the number of daylight hours left. Remember that time? Didn’t it ROCK?
2. Your wardrobe had two categories: school clothes and play clothes.
There was no reason to differentiate further. Either it was nice enough for school, or you tore it up outside. Boo-yah! Now I’ve got work clothes, barn clothes, paint-stained-for-further-paint-jobs clothes, favorite clothes that have stupid stains that won’t come out so you can’t wear them out anymore clothes, casual clothes, ‘smart casual’ clothes (not to be mistaken for those not-too-bright casuals), dressy-ish clothes, and that-one-dress-in-case-there’s-a-wedding.
It’s all so complicated now.
3. Short Attention Span Theater
I miss the days where you could just be totally immersed in one activity and suddenly someone says “wanna go poke some crayfish with a stick?” and you go “ok!” and head on down to the creek. There are no ‘projects’ in childhood. No deadlines. Just do something til it’s boring et voila…do something else! What could be simpler? Which brings us to…..
4. Oh, Simple Things
This also falls under the heading of being ‘easily amused’. Thankfully, I’ve never lost this part. But I do miss the days when I could waste an entire afternoon looking for grasshoppers. And yes, I am quite serious. We even had one neighbor whose lawn was always dead and yellow which was a PLAYGROUND for those grasshoppers….and Mom bit back her embarassment and told me to at least ask if it was ok to ‘rassle grassies in her backyard.
Luckily we were all friends, and it was on. She even had those cool flying ones!
Ah, simpler times. When a good day meant you could sneak an extra Otter Pop. When you truly believed what Mom told you about stepping on a rusty nail (causes lockjaw. Btw has anyone in the history of the world that you know or have heard of ever *had* lockjaw from stepping on a rusty nail? One *does* wonder). When you really thought Calamine lotion would help out with those nasty chicken pox. When you were too old to believe in Santa Claus, but snuck a letter off juuuust to cover your bases. When hide-and-go-seek was a big deal.
I miss those days And finally,
5. Innocence
How can you not miss the time BEFORE you knew about SPF 50 and skin cancer when you spent the day at the beach?
When a mosquito bite didn’t spark the fear of West Nile Virus?
When it really didn’t seem to matter who was president? (except on a test)
When you could get away with asking inappropriate questions under the guise of ‘not knowing any better?’
When the biggest insult your sibling could throw at you was ‘Booger Brain Pile Head?’ (our clever way of calling each other shit-head)
When your Big Plan for the day was building a fort?
Ah, I miss those days.
How bout you guys…what do *you* miss most from childhood
Edit: I have to add that just after posting this blog, my honey and I went downstairs to eat some dinner. The entire time we were eating, we were giggling at a squirrel on the fencepost that was being perturbed by a persistent itch. He was literally scratching from various angles the entire time we were eating. I said “Wow, honey…we get dinner *and* a show!”