THE SIMPLE LIFE

I grew up a country boy. That is something that I will always cherish in my thoughts. My thoughts often fly back to when I was a young boy. It was then that I learned about the simple things in life and it is something that has always stuck with me. Even today I would much rather take a pleasant walk in the forest with my wife and dog than go to a party with a large crowd of people.

My mind is in the late 1950s thinking of some of the things I used to do. My brother and I used to get in our front yard with some friends and play football with a milk carton stuffed with leaves. We would stuff that wax parer milk carton with leaves and toss it around like it was a real football. We didn't need anything else, we had so much fun. I do wonder now why we never had a real football. We had a basketball and a baseball, but no football.

I used to walk through the forest to Pup Run. It was a small mountain stream on one of our friends property. I almost always had some string in my pocket and a pocket knife. Every little boy had his pocket knife in those days. I would walk to that stream, cut a branch from a tree, tie my string on one end. On the other end of the string I would tie a fish hook that I often had in my baseball cap that I always wore. Sometimes I carried a couple of fish worms with me. I would drop that line into the little stream as I walked along it. Many times I would catch a little trout. There were no large trout in that stream that I can remember. When I got a little trout I would smile as I took the hook out, then return the trout to the cold water of the mountain stream. A simple life, a fun life, an interesting life. Nothing fancy was needed to have fun when I was young.

My uncle John had several large fields where he planted corn every summer. He was a man that could grow anything. The largest field on the back of his property he never planted any crops. That was my kite flying field. No store bought kite. I would make my own. I cut a couple of small branches from a tree, tied them together. Then I would cut a slit in the ends of the branches and thread a string all the way around. I then got a newspaper, cut it up, and glued it to my kite. I added a long string on the bottom, cut up some old rags and made my tail for the kite. I had my roll of kite string attached and off to my uncle's field I would go. I got my kite flying high and would stay there for the longest time enjoying flying my kite. I often still think of those days.

I was a tree climber when I was a young boy. I used to climb small maple trees an high as I could until the trees would bend over and I would touch the ground. I used to get more scrapes on my arms and legs, but I
never cared. I just loved to climb trees. I often climbed as high as I could in apple trees. I would climb the
tree, pick an apple, and sit on a branch and eat it. I just love trees, although I don't climb them anymore I love walking through a forest and admiring the trees.

I would get a glass jar when I was a child, poke some holes in the cap and gather fireflies at night. I would fill that jar up with as many fireflies that I could collect. I would sit in the yard and look at that glass jar as firefly after firefly would light up. It is amazing how much light they can give off and really amazing how much light you can get out of a lot of them in a glass jar. I would lie on the grass in the yard next to my jar of fireflies and stare up at the stars. At that early age I didn't realize the vastness of space, but looking at the stars and the moon have always amazed me.

Just a glimpse back on my life as a young boy and realizing that I loved the simple life and I still do. So many children now spend hour after hour in front of a computer playing video games, on a tablet, or texting on their phone. Kids of today have no idea how much fun can be loved from the simple things in life. I am glad that I grew up before the technology age. I will always be a country boy no matter how close to a city I live.


Copyright   Larry W. Fish   2015

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