Cowboys and Indians

I grew up in Indiana on six acres of land. A tractor shed with a clubhouse and slide, two old barns (that were both tore down eventually) and an acre woods stood on the property. Even with all that, it was across the country road where my real adventure land lay. Here there stood 9 or 10 acres of pure bliss for any boy...and by pure bliss I mean, woods. In my spare time (and time that wasn't to be spared) I would fight and explore. What did I fight? Well, depending on who I could convince to wonder out into the woods with me, my brother's and sister being the main prey and on the wondrous occasion my cousin Phil would come visit. Oh the battles and adventures we had. My mother would holler and yell for us to come home, but we NEVER heard her till the last bit of energy was spent. Oh the trouble that woods caused us. The spankings we got for how dirty we were or the talking-to's for the mud or animals we brought back with us. Didn't matter to us, the more dangerous the better.

Summer time, the creek would flood: we would toss large logs in and "save them", not ever thinking we might need saving.

Winter would come and it would snow: then freeze rain on top, we would grab our sleds. But it wasn't enough to just sled down the ice-covered-hill, no, we had to try to HIT the person at the bottom as they tried to get out of the way (may we have a brief moment of silence for the many broken sleds lay at the bottom of our hill). The owner of the woods would drag a huge fireplace out to our sledding hill and make a fire to warm us as we tried to wreck destruction upon our snowy little woods.

Spring would come: we'd find some berries...no, we didn't know what they were, but we'd eat em.

Baby snake found in the dry creek bed in the fall: catch it! Who cares if its poisonous or if its trying to bite! We'd put it in a glass jar and chase Sarah around with it.

Oh the memories of playing in the woods. It was the Old West, where we would have glorious battles between Cowboy and Indian. The Battles between the good Kings and evil soldiers. Where I said the "d word" and got told on by Adam (thanks you jerk)...it WASN'T where I got my mouth washed out with soap though.... Its where I got the poles for my Indian tepee...

Now its just a woods again. I don't think that the animals are quite as happy as they once were. The trees no longer tickled by yelling and laughter. Now, its just trees and grass...but its waiting. Waiting for that next child to discover its enchanting power. There is magic in the woods...magic, just waiting for a child to unlock its gifts and pour them out all around...oh, how I miss it.