Memories of an old life

A long long time ago in a country far, far away…. ;-)

 

I like to remember the habits from earlier in life…I used to do a lot of things which I do miss from being here. My weeks were quite pleasant. I used to garden for my grandparents. I really enjoyed going outside and bringing that garden under control. Trimming every edge, cutting every blade, tending to every rose and flower bed. When I was finished each weekend, I enjoyed taking stock of the work done and the order brought about. I did brick laying myself, built paths and a basketball court from laid bricks. 12 years later, the stuff is still there, and mostly intact.

 

The other thing that I really treasured doing every week was the weekly hike with my grandfather. After I was done with the gardening, my grandfather would take us on long nature hikes. We have hiked 2 volcanoes, several mountains, and a couple of amazing valleys. I really, really, REALLY enjoyed the valley hikes. We would hike for several hours, and usually try a different branch of the valley each time. We almost always hiked UP the valley so that the return trip was easier. We discovered caves, waterfalls, and hidden quiet villages all over the place. Drinking fresh mountain stream water wherever we're going, stopping to rest under awesome trees and shady zones of gorgeous beauty. Because we were very high up in the mountains, there were also none of the nasty bugs and poisonous things that exist in the tropical areas.

 That was mostly weekends. My school week was M-Th and I was usually done quite early (8-10 am ending or so). That would give me a LOT of time in the evenings to do things that were very interesting to me. One of the other things that I did a LOT of was play basketball. I would play 2-4 hours a day with the seminary men across `street. I got pretty good before it was all over. I was saddened to lose that here in the states. In Mexico, we played on concrete courts, and "no blood, no foul". When I came to the U.S., I felt like it was all a bunch of pansy sissy-boys. Playing on "wooden floors" and "calling every foul. So, eventually I fell out of it. I went to bowling instead and also got into Racquetball HEAVILY.

It's amazing now that I think back on this, how much I really miss those days. Kids, enjoy your time at home, it's hard to get better than those memories!