Looking forward, looking back

Much like New Year's, a birthday seems like the right time to both reminisce about the times that were, and cast your eyes forward to what's ahead.  Tomorrow is my birthday, so indulge me while I wander the synapses of recollection of my early life and recall some key moments.  These will clearly mean more to me than you, but like anything else, a glimpse into how another looks at things, is often instructional for each of us as we consider how we approach the same thing.

My earliest memories are in a row-boat.  I think my mother and father are there too. As I recall it now, it looks like New York's Central Park, which is of course not possible as I wasn't ever there until years later.  That's what the movies will do to you.

When I was older, but still young, we lived on a lake.  We moved up there and I was united with my new family.  I recall visiting before the move, and huddling in the corner, trying to be invisible to all the noise and activity of four other kids around me.  Memories in that house weren't all frightening though - I also recall my mother ironing in our living room as we were watching the moon landings on our b&w TV.  It was a renovated cottage - a summer home, and had lots of great places to hide, including the TV ariel that would have been 100feet high.  I could climb it and go up onto the roof - our dog never found me there.  I also recall jumping on my Dad - Kato-style from the Pink Panther movies.  I'm sure that exactly what he was hoping for after a long day of work, and a big commute. (does yur dog bite?)

In spring and autumn before the lake was frozen solid - in those freezing/thawing times of the year, I'd go out alone in our little un-sinkable aluminium canoe and play 'ice-breaker'.  I had to wander far-out and now I look back and wonder how I didn't flip it and drown.  I had a sense of confidence in that little boat as it was rimmed in styrofoam, not quite understanding how the frigid water wouldn't have been so kind to my little body. I wasn't quite as unsinkable of course.

Many childhood memoires involved our dog - and long stretches playing by ourselves.  To my mind, I'd go out in the morning, and show up again at dinner time.  Of course, my ability to playback episodes of Gilligan's Island and Hogan's Heroes means I also spent some time on the couch.

If I relate this to my own kids, I can't say I let them be as wild as I sensed I was.  Granted it was different times, but that's as much to do with the speed of information sharing these days as anything else.  I enjoyed being a kid and hope my own children did too.  I was free then and while I did find my fair share of mischief, I could express myself in making a fort in the woods, or building an army base through the garden (sorry Mom), or trying to see how I could get the lake to catch fire. (Don't ask)

Getting older probably places a rose-coloured lens on earlier days, but that's not a bad way to consider your own life. Looking back, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.