My top ten childhood treasures

Did you leave something behind in childhood? Something happens to us when we get about fourteen or fifteen years old. We begin to turn away from some of the fun and exciting things we did as children. As we move closer to adulthood, we no longer look at the world and all we do the same. I think that it is a shame.

So today I am posting my personal list of forgotten childhood treasures. I challenge you to do the same. Once you come up with your list, pass it on to me in the comment box below. My top ten forgotten treasures of childhood include;

10. Watching Saturday morning cartoons. I used to look forward to the new line-up that was announced every fall. I would check out the schedule and plan my day around the shows. My favorites were Scooby Doo and Tom & Jerry. Anyone remember School House rock?

9. Riding my bicycle. I put on hundreds of miles, especially in the summer. It was a four mile trek to downtown Colchester and sometimes I would ride it twice a day. My longest trip was to New London. It was 40 miles round trip.

8. Hiking through the woods. With fifty acres to play in, I was always blazing new trails in our woods. sometimes I would go up the street and cross the woods by the Fish & Game Club. I never stuck to the trails. I would explore the river banks and go cross country. I was a Boy Scout at heart, I think.

7. Playing king of the raft at the lake. When I got my driver's license this opened up new vistas of fun. We would play king of the raft at my friend's cottage on occasion before that. Once we could drive to the lake, we were out there almost every night during the summer. It never got old even though the big kid always won!

6. Camping out in my back yard. With or without a tent, we slept outside most of the summer. The only time we took a break was the time we saw a snake out by our tent. We would get snacks, haul out our flash lights and talk about school, girls, plans for the future. We'd talk until we fell asleep exhausted.

5. Collecting fireflies. It always worked better when we poked air holes in the container. But when I was in third to fifth grade this was the most fun because there was an endless supply of fire flies at our house. I never knew what they were, or where they came from. I only knew that they were cool!

4. Eating fluffernutter sandwiches. Fluffernutters were even better than toasted marshmallows because you didn't have to peel the charred parts away before you ate them. And everything tastes better with peanut butter doesn't it?

3. Sleeping over my best friend's house. (See camping) Spending time with my buddies was the best part of growing up and if you could sleep over, it meant you even had more time with them. What could be better than that? I guess having friends is the real point. As we get older of our circle of good friends also diminishes. Why is that?

2. Collecting matchbox cars. We were not rich but the matchbox cars allowed us to dream that we were. We could own the hottest cars in town. I used to collect all of the cars I could. When I actually got my first car (a 1965 Mustang) I stopped collecting matchboxes.

1. Letting my imagination go free and becoming a baseball star, a superhero, a rock guitar player, a race car driver or a grown up. I still get to do this a bit when no one is looking. I do community theater. I also have fun in my brain when I go for my daily walks and pretend to be a big baseball player or movie star. Only now I have to play the game alone. After all, people would think I was crazy if I asked someone to be Goose Gossage to my Kirk Gibson (1984 World Series).

Oh well. I don't know when I crossed that imaginary line and stopped doing most of these things. I think it happened when I started wanting to be an adult. I began to put away all the fun and simple pleasures of life and took on a more serious approach. I think I lost something in the process. Maybe that's why so many of us struggle with our faith as well. We left our imaginations behind and in the process closed the door to God and all his possibilities. So what are your top ten? Maybe it is time to pull them out again and invite that child to lead us.

Cal