Good 'Ole Days

Remember when you were little and summer was just beginning? Remember carefree days and fun filled evenings? I do and I want my children to experience it too. But, it seems more difficult nowadays.

When I was little and it was warm outside, I was pretty much outside the whole day except to eat or use the bathroom. When it was time to come inside, my parents either flicked the outside post lamp on and off or yelled my name really, really loud. I still remember being down the road and hearing "MARCIE, TIME TO COME HOME" echoing down the street. (Marcie is my nick name by the way. It is derived from my middle name. My mom tried to make my middle name after Jon Voight's wife, Angelina Jolie's mother. But, she spelled it wrong. So, instead of Marcheline, my middle name is spelled Marchelene. Anyway, that's where they get Marcie from.)

I remember playing under my cousins house in the crawl space catching frogs, while the adults sat around drinking and talking. We were at my Aunt & Uncles house for a moving party. I didn't know it at the time, but that "garden/field" they were burning was actually marijuana plants that they were burning to get rid of before they moved. No wonder everyone was in such a good mood that day. I wonder if that is why they put mud on my finger when I got stung by a bee or if that really works?

I also remember camping out in our backyard in a tent, or staying in the neighbors conversion van or even their pop-up camper. We would have the girls in the camper and boys in the van. Then, in the middle of the night we would go carousing around the neighborhood. Sometimes we TP'd people, other times we just walked around.

Where am I going with all of this? Thanks for asking. I just don't think I can let my kids do these things. Maybe when they are older I will feel better about letting them run around the neighborhood without me or BD, but right now I can't even imagine that. It seems their innocent fun just won't happen. Other mothers I talk to feel the same way. The world just isn't the same as it used to be and that makes me sad.