Childhood's Wide Open Spaces

My childhood ran at a slow pace. I had plenty of room to run, but even if I had grown up in an apartment in the city, I know I would have had the same feeling of wide open spaces. It's because of the gift of time.

Often, I thought I was bored. Those moments forced me to nurture my creativity. I remember building my own Japanese dollhouse out of stuff around the house after I read a book about a Japanese family. Even the tiny details fascinated me--the tea, the beds, the screens.

We had a long, gravel driveway and an enormous tree out front. The simple act of getting the mail became a welcome diversion by waltzing up the driveway and checking out the wild daisies and milkweed that grew along it. Crimson ladybugs lived in the tree one month each summer, and my sister and I would play with them. When you're a kid, you notice this stuff. I couldn't tell you if any of my current trees have an annual ladybug gathering, and getting the mail is a ten step jaunt now.

I don't miss being a child. Grown-ups get to make their own decisions. However, I do miss that sense of infinite time. I miss dawdling up a gravel driveway with nothing better to do than check out weeds. The wide open spaces I miss are the mental ones.

Did you have wide open spaces as a child? Were they more mental than physical? Do you enjoy wide open spaces now?

Join me on Friday to set one goal!

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