There was an abandoned building not far from my home. We played inside it all the time. We'd climb up the fire escape on the outside of the building and enter through broken windows. My mom didn't have a clue that we played there.
When they were building new houses in our area, they would pile up the dirt they had dug out for the basements in a huge mound. We burrowed into the side of these mounds to make caves. Looking back now, it is a miracle we weren't buried alive.
We'd often go off for hours. Our parents had no idea where we were. We'd play in a creek and climb huge trees. I do think we were lucky that none of us were badly hurt.
We spent ours capturing bees in glass jars. We'd transfer the individual bees into a huge jar. At one point, the big jar must have contained 300 bees of various varieties. Eventually, a parent would see what we were doing and take it away from us. One time, a parent took the big jar out to a country road and tossed from the car to break it open without being stung. I can't believe I participated in this since I later found out that I am allergic to bee stings.
On Halloween, we'd go all over town by ourselves. During the summer, I remember walking home from the community swimming pool by myself after dark many times. It was a good mile from my home. The only thing I was ever worried about was bats.
It seemed to be a gentler, safer time. I lived in a very small town. We made our fun out of the things that surrounded us. We did not have any fancy games. There wasn't that much to watch on television. We actually played games using freshly mowed grass.
We spent hours playing a game by tossing a ball over the house.
It was a much slower paced way of life. Sadly, the world seems to contain a lot more evil now. Perhaps, that is just my perception due to the media, but I really don't remember so many terrible things happening when I was a child.
Kids expect so much to be handed to them. They want other people to amuse them. This is true of my daughter. She hates to sit around the house. She wants to be on the go all the time. In a way, this makes me sad.
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