mayberry

belly shirts and high heels on the under ten set, perfume for kids and bratz dolls . these are the things that make me want to run away to an island with a tall fence topped with barbed wire. if i could, i’d remove my kids them from all media and commercial influence and let them just be kids. i’m a realist. by osmosis it seems they are exposed to tv, advertising, fast food signs and the latest trendy toy.

despite this, i do my best to preserve what i can of pure childhood fun. kind of goes along with being a bubble girl. valerie and i call it “magic cabin kids”. ( for those of you who don’t know, magic cabin is a catalogue based in vermont that has cool toys and games for kids, dolls, dress up stuff, wooden animals and such- i love looking at stuff there. we do have a few things from them, mixed in with our standard issue plastic goodwill stuff and commercial items.)

summer is a great time to savor and enjoy the best of simply being a kid. we go to the neighborhood pool for lessons every day and do family swim as often as we can. we walk the dog, while hazel collects leaves and makes bouquets of dandelions. one night last week we went down to the secret hidden blackberry patch and picked and ate until we were stuffed. we sauntered home with purple fingers sporting a few scratches.

despite living on the edge of the really fancy neighborhood there are a few unpaved streets nearby. the secret blackberry patch is tucked away on one such avenue . on another is the quintessential mayberry-esque experience: the homemade swing. the swing looks like something out of the 50’s all it lacks is a swimming hole to drop into.

i discovered it by accident when ruby was a baby. taking a short cut home from the little store, i saw it hanging innocently from the tall maple. rope swing with a board seat, single hole in the middle of the board and knots to hang on to .not in someone’s yard or a park, but in the non mans land of the unpaved side street. i never thought much of it until one summer day on a walk with my dad, we came across it.

the first time ruby sat on it, she only wanted a short gentle push and then she was done. now after many summers of the swing, she begs to go higher and shrieks with laughter. on the bayberry swing you sail up to the tree and the arc is long and slow.

now its hazels turn to start out gingerly on the wooden seat. i have no doubts that by the time summer unfolds in bayberry next year she’ll be begging to go higher as well.