Childish Hindsight

Tonight I'm drawn back to Alaska. Home if you will. It was a tough time for some and a fairytale for me. I close my eyes and I see the sitting rock behind the house down the trails. Although, I couldn't tell you how to get there now. I could probably take you to Big Rock and the swing. I remember where it is in relation to the house, but I'd have to use a little technology to map out the way. Those were actual hiking trails cut deep into the landscape. It's halfway between Service Highschool and Hilltop Ski Area.

 
I'm craving the defining quiet and blinding beauty. I looked up tonight to see the stars and was once again underwhelmed. I can't remember when I stopped looking up. It was instinctual in Joshua Tree but again here, in this concrete jungle, I keep my head down.

I miss the noises of nature. The howls of coyotes keep me on my toes. I miss the moose in Alaska. I know they are really dangerous and I'm honestly not sure how I survived as a kid. I had more than one encounter. One close enough I could have reached out and touched it. I remember I had a rip in my jacket and I told everyone the moose took a bite. I think I honestly thought that because even to this day I still don't know how that rip happened. It was probably a tree branch running through our makeshift trails.

We boobie trapped those trails. We hung fishing line traps, and I think we even dug a hole and put sticks in them. I wonder if the animals ever got caught up in those or if the new owners found all of our childish adventures our back.

We would chase each other and sometimes even the dogs would come along. Tabby was the best. I remember she loved Ian so he would go hide and we'd help her find him.

I remember the long telephone pole clearing. I think there were 6 or 7 poles along the "landing strip". I always remember that it dipped down and I always thought I would be tall enough to touch the line with a stick one day. It was always an illusion but also a fun thought.

Up the hill to the landing strip were Cy Young and Ben Wolf's houses. Snobby pants (I don't remember his name but I remember he loved having rich parents) lived up the hill from us. The further you went the richer they got. Jennifer lived right below him. Holly was further up the street but at the right angle, you could see her house, just barely. Elizabeth, Preston, and Ward lived by the German house I always wanted to buy but I think now is an Air BnB. Andrea lived down the ways a bit further off a numbered street on the way to school, 98th or 99th. Danielle was the furthest one, she was off Birch. 

On top of the hill was a good clearing of houses that no one owned and we'd go up and explore up there all the time. Not as often as the back yard of over at Big Rock but that's where the antlers dropped, so we'd head up there in the spring. Little did I know I could have been getting big bucks for those sheds. Oh well, childish hindsight.

We also had two big rocks in our front yard. We'd pull the trampoline right to them and jump off. The adults didn't like us ruining the yard so we'd have to put it back when we got caught. I'm pretty sure mom never cared, it was the Pepperoni - If you know, you'll know.

There was also a little Paper Birch grove of about 20 trees. We never did do anything crazy with that area, always seemed too close to the road. Well, it was close to the road, on the corner of an intersection. We had 270 degrees of forest around us, so there was no need to play in the group of don't miss your turn and crash into these barrier trees.

It's funny to look at a map and realize your giant word was a small postage stamp. The freedoms and laughter allowed me to soar and never feel trapped. 

Tonight I miss the quiet but I enjoyed the nostalgia.