Carrying Childhood in My Heart

As per our Thursday night tradition, Tom and I grabbed a glass of wine after supper, retreated to the comfy living room chairs, and began talking about all kinds of things from his work and plans for this little house, to childhood memories. Recalling the days of our youth, the words began to flow faster and faster, simply pouring out of us both amidst bursts of laughter, affirming head nods, and occasional... "awwww"s.

My childhood was a happy one. It wasn't the picture of perfection, but then, whose is? I think I was happy because life was simple, and I thoroughly enjoyed the simple things. My parents worked hard to provide the necessities, but there wasn't always much left over to enjoy the fancier frills. That would have been news to me as a kid, because I felt rich, I truly did.

Life in the single digits was lived in a modest little house in a modest part of town. I walked home from school every day past an open field that had wildflowers growing in abandon. Actually, as I now recall, they were mostly weeds, but that didn't stop me from grabbing a handful to make an impromptu bouquet to present to my mother when I got home. It was one of my daily joys.

Friday nights meant I got to watch a movie and eat hotdogs. I had some li'l version of a kind of view master projector that ran on batteries. It came with several cardboard cartoon strips each about a foot long. I would turn it on, face the outside wall of our tiny front stoop, and feed the non-scripted Flintstone's adventures through to my heart's content. My mom would make my hotdog, which was actually a wiener laid diagonally across a slice of white bread, and bring it out for me to eat as I watched. Man, life was gooood!

There were two big ol' Chinaberry trees in the front yard which provided hours of free fun for my friends and me as we chose sides and battled one another by lobbing Chinaberry bombs to see who could rid their side of the yard first. Those trees were great, except when you tried rollerskating across the sidewalk! An errant berry could snag your wheels and send you sailing!!

I spent many carefree hours making mud pies, cutting out my own paper dolls and clothes from newspaper advertisements, and soaring away on my "monkey swing" while singing my little guts out to whatever new song I learned in Sunday school. See what I mean? It was a grandly happy childhood!

This past weekend, Tom and I got to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Spring, Texas, for Easter. After all the wonderful services at Lazarus church, we were invited to tag along camping with them for Laura's birthday last Monday. One of the things I enjoyed most was seeing Flint, our almost four-year-old grandson, digging in the dirt with his sand shovel and piling rocks beneath a tree. He couldn't have been happier.

Kid. Shovel. Dirt. The perfect combination!

It took me back to those wonderful, simple, gloriously happy days of my own childhood. I'm beyond grateful for them. They taught me how to appreciate life and how to gain great pleasure from the smallest things.

I never miss an opportunity to inhale deeply the aroma of a freshly brewed cup of coffee. I squeal with delight at seedlings popping up through the dirt. I thrill to spot cardinals and blue jays flitting through our backyard bushes.

I enjoy visiting with friends over a cup of tea, watching rain fall, spotting pink ribbons in the morning sky, and gazing up at the stars during a dark moon.

I love leaves that crunch under my feet, finding bird's nests, salty air at the beach, and driving in the hill country in Tom's old Jeep.

I thoroughly enjoy enchiladas from Blanco Cafe, tamales from Adelita, and guacamole cups and bean rolls from Teka Molina! Ahhh... my childhood! Only thing missing is the bottled Delaware Punch my dad used to let me have ONLY on the rare occasion we ate in at Mr. Mambo's Mexican Cafe on Blanco Road.

Enjoying the simplest of pleasures, letting them fill my life with untold joy is one of the greatest treasures I carry with me from my childhood. Happiness is really all about attitude. It doesn't take much to be happy, as attested to by my grandson Flint. All it takes is a little time, a little looking... a little wonder.

Yes, happiness can be had for a song... or a sunset. You choose. We can only live life by the day, but if we choose to live it through childlike anticipation and joy...

WHAT a day it will be!

"The secret of childhood happiness is to succeed to be happy with the simplest things ever possible." - Mehmet Murat ildan