I remember being outside a lot. I lived in the Mobile Home Park on Joyce Ln in Elgin from birth-6 years old. I remember more summer than I do any other season. I was outside all the time.
Two of my best friends lived across the street. Joe who was a few years older than me. And his sister Crystal who was my age. We would hang out, so i seem to recollect, just about every day. I remember climbing the tree in their yard. And there being a makeshift tree house.
We had a swing set at my house and we spent a lot of time there. The yard, in my memory, is huge. But when I go back and visit it’s so incredibly small. One time my sister and I made a makeshift slip and slide in our back yard. We used garbage bags, golf teas to pin it down, and a sprinkler to make it wet. I’m sure it didn’t last long but it was fun.
In the summers i would spend time swimming in my kiddie pool. We would run through sprinklers. Once I learned to ride a bike I would trek the part of the neighborhood I was allowed to be in. Visiting other neighborhood youngsters like Amber and Amanda who were friends with my sister.
My childhood memories are so vivid. When I think about the summer memories i see the brightness of the sun and feel its’ warmth on my skin. It’s like the Eden of my life. It wasn’t all perfect. Far from it. But there was something innocent there that can never be regained. In the next blog I will go into a few specific summertime stories.
Poetry and Politics 