A Walk down Memory Lane

 

Apparently tonight is my night to be the carpool person and take the girls to cheerleading practice.

I jumped into the car to the sound of my 12 year old whining she did not have “cheerleading shoes”.  There is something so very specific about a middle school girl’s activities and the apparel that goes with it.  There is no approximating, no equivalents or knock-offs.  There is only the thing itself that is essential to have in order to not make one stand out as different or in any way off-kilter.

But I digress.  We drove to her friend’s house and then headed to cheerleading practice.  I was warned by my daughter to avoid playing my music at all costs and remain as silent as possible.  She and her friend talked enthusiastically in the back seat and at some point their conversation moved to kids doing ill-advised things that get them into trouble.  Well, I have a whole treasure chest full of such stories just waiting to be told and so I waited.  And waited… until a pause in their conversation provided an opening.

“You know, I had something like that happen to me the summer before Kindergarten.”

I glanced in the rearview mirror to judge my audience and they appeared receptive so I began my tale:

***

We lived on a cul de sac and the street dead-ended into the back side of a large park.  This side of the park was wooded and a source of fascination for me.  I decided I was up for an adventure on this particular Saturday morning and entered the woods alone and unaccounted for.  I walked through the woods and when I came out into the park proper I was a little surprised to find I’d been to this park before but from a different entrance and had not realized my neighborhood was on the other side of those woods.

[I glanced in the rearview mirror to gauge my audience and see if Anya was giving me the big-eyed “cut it out!” stare.  Instead I saw smiles and so I continued…]

I couldn’t believe I’d come so far so I decided I wanted to try and go farther to see what I could see.  I was scared but excited at the same time.  Eventually I made it to the far side of the park that was bordered by the main road into town and I felt like I had covered several miles on my journey, though it was likely less than one.  I could either go back or head into town and it was so very far back home, so why not?  The day was young.

I was wearing a hoodie and before following the road into town I pulled it up over my head and put my hands in my pockets thinking I would appear bigger or maybe become invisible.  I decided if anyone asked me how old I was I was going to tell them “7” because I thought that was a “big kid” well into elementary school and anything higher would be an obvious lie as small as I was.

[I heard the girls giggling behind me.]

So, I headed towards town on the gravelly side of the road and within a minute or two a police car pulled off the road in front of me.  At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but then the policeman got out and walked back towards me.

“Hey son, where you headed?”

I told him I was headed into town.  I imagine this probably got a smile if not a chuckle out of him and he told me I should get in the police car with him so he could take me home.  

The car made a u-turn and we headed the opposite way that I had been going.  It was tough trying to navigate for him because my 4 year old brain thought of each part of town as separate places that only my Dad knew how to get to by car.  There was our neighborhood, the park, my school, the church, and the ice cream shop all situated in their own exclusive and disconnected geographic locations.  The police officer made some suggestions based on the place he found me and the direction I was walking.  At some point some things started looking familiar and then I noticed the side of our house. 

“That’s it,” as I pointed to our left.

He whipped the cruiser into the side driveway which lead up to two large sliding glass doors.  Inside I could see my Mom leaning back into her exercise machine we called the “jigulator”.  It was an early 70’s fad weight loss contraption that had a wide cloth belt that fit around your butt and would violently shake back and forth, ostensibly to reduce fat in your backside.  She was in a housecoat, hair in curlers, and reading a magazine in full view of the policeman and me.

I’ll never forget the look on her face.  It registered confusion, then anger, then restraint as she came to the door to let us in.  She apologized profusely and thanked the officer but when he left she had murder in her eyes.  

***

At this point I explained to Anya and her friend that back then there were no video games, no cordless phones, and no computers so a lot of time was spent outdoors when the weather was nice.  I also explained that TV shows for kids were only on at certain times, like directly after school or on Saturday mornings.  As a result much of my young life was spent either seeking outdoor adventures or experiencing adventures through books when I learned to read.  That segued into talking about books they liked and then we arrived at Anya’s friend’s house to drop her off.  

It was a drive and then a walk down memory lane for me.  And now that I am finishing this up it strikes me that it was literally 50 years ago.  So very strange to think it could be so very long ago.  I miss my kids being that age and as a parent I am thankful they were not quite so full of “adventures” as I was.