Childhood memories of play

As I dropped the kids off at their playdates this afternoon, I couldn't help but think of my own playdates as a child. As we arrived at the first house, one of the parents was sat up on her horse, wandering slowly down the road with that beautiful hip-swing of her horse. The dogs ran about, and the pig and goats were lounging in their pens. The left-behind horses munched on hay together. The day was sunny, breezy, and in the distance the lake was visible beyond the wetlands, with the mountains not far away. It was picturesque.

At the second drop-off, a cozy home sat on a gorgeous five acres, surrounded by forests, horse pastures, and the view nearly made my jaw drop: mountains, snow-capped and strong, with Fisher Peak hidden behind the low clouds. Is there anything better?

A beautiful place for the kids to explore and get muddy if they wanted to. Animals, mud puddles, trees, branch-swords, haystacks...

We lived in a quiet cul-de-sac growing up in Hamburg, Germany, and behind our street was nature conservancy land: moors, fields of heather and gold, some rolling hills, and forests. This was our playground; we had no metal structures, unless of course you count our bikes. On our bikes, we fled to the forest where we dug holes, built forts, created and played games, and used our imagination. We'd visit the horses nearby, Tipsi and Lisa and that other brown one. We climbed big oak trees and collected acorns.

One family we'd visit had stables and it was a dream. They had dogs, cats, mice, parrots, donkeys, horses, and a house-pig named Harry. We'd play as long as we could, on haystacks, in the stables, petting horses, playing in the horse trailers, and making up games. Sometimes we brushed the horses, though I don't recall ever sitting on one, but horses were always around growing up.

Of course I recall friends' houses that didn't have horse stables, and of course their toys and snacks were always better than ours (as it always goes with kids), but the ones I recall most fondly involved animals and playing outside. Those were the best of times. And now that I've switched country, language, and lifestyle... my kids still get the same kind of childhood and memories as I had. The only difference being that we discuss bear safety...!

Feeling grateful today with a slight scent of hay in my core memories...

Where do you remember playing as a child? What were your fondest places?

In love and literature,

Nadine