One of my favorite memories growing up in my parents' house is hanging out in the backyard. My bare feet tread through cool patches of clover as dip a toe in each clover patch to find the perfect one. Once I settled on the best section, I lay on my back and watched the clouds in the sky. Sometimes I grabbed a book to read, but mostly I just absorbed the outdoors. The clover felt slightly damp and cool under my back while the sun's rays warmed my body.
This summer my kids are headed to my parents for an extended stay-without me or their dad. Our young mulberry and pear trees are now grown and substantial enough to hold a tree house that my father built with his own hands. There are still clumps and patches of the same clovers with bushy white flowers. I tell Sophia about how those little clovers felt between my toes, so soft and cool. I remember making flower necklaces out of their flowers.
I want a yard of our own. Our entire family does. We're apartment dwellers here in DC metro. The area we live in is slightly suburban so there is green around us. Behind our building is a swing set and a little play set. I take the kids to the park, but it's not in walking distance. I grew up in a small Louisiana town where my parents would just let us roam outside and come home by nightfall.
Sophia and Jaxson are too young for me to let them roam around our apartment complex. Call me paranoid or helicopter parent or whatever, but I don't feel comfortable letting them out of my sight here. Not all the parents in our community feel the same way. I've seen kids as young as 4 or 5 years old running around with older kids. I've seen teens and tweens smoking pot or drinking beers on the swing set behind our building. Odd condom wrappers decorating the ground near the neglected picnic table. Don't get the wrong impression. We don't live in a bad neighborhood. It's just more urban than where I grew up.
So, I drive them to the park. Different parks. It becomes an adventure to find new parks that have bathrooms and not portable toilets. Ones with some shade. Ones with frequented by other kids so my kids have someone to play with. A park that's not to far so Jaxson won't fall asleep on the way there. Parks that are fun. I do it because my kids love, they need to be outside. To smell the fresh air. To play in the dirt (yes, I let them play in the dirt and track in my car.) To poke trees and find bugs living underneath its bark. To run and yell. To learn how to make friends for the short hour we are there.
In the meantime, we dream about the back yard that will come with our dream house. A fence so we can finally get a dog (Sophia's dream). A patio to hang out on with a beer in hand (me and hubby). A sunny patch to grow vegetables (mine and Sophia's). A fun swingset (both kids). A plastic kiddie pool during the hot summers. Hanging up a sheet and inviting friends over for movies in our back yard.
This post was inspired by Up: A Mother and Daughter’s Peakbagging Adventure. Trish Herr's then five year old daughter Alex wanted to hike all 48 of New Hampshire's 4,000+ foot mountains. Would you let your five year old do the same? Join From Left to Write on April 12 as we discuss Up: A Mother and Daughter’s Peakbagging Adventure. As a member of From Left to Write, I received a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.
