...remembering a childhood

It was bottle feeding feeding baby goats first thing in the morning and first thing before bed. It was trips to the blueberry patch because mom would make blueberry pancakes. It was small game hunting in the snow with my brother. It was waking up at six, not because we had to but because we were stoked to. It was doing my schoolwork in our dining room, surrounded by moms ferns and flowers and other house plants. It was diving off of the deck onto the trampoline, even though mom would rather we didn't. It was breaking our horses with my brother(often resulting in some sort of injury lol). It was drills with the A.U.N.F (army club), making our own ghillie suits and spying on the good people of Dripping Springs valley...hahaha. It was swimming at Steel Creek and seeing who could jump the highest off of the boulders or who could stay the longest on the bottom. It was making stop-motion, toy movies with my sister. It was home church with people from all over and hippie-dancing in the living room. It was chasing elk through boxley valley. It was stopping at the old country store in Osage to see if they had some bit-o-honey. It was days on end in the woods and never getting bored with it. It was my first hunting trip with Dad and seeing a shot that would make the rest of the trips boring in comparison. It was forty minute trips for Isshinryu classes in the dodge but we didn't mind. It was watching old movies with the parents because old movies were decent. It was barely dressed trips to the woodpile in the dead of winter because me and my brother insisted that we were tough. It was rain in the orchard. It was leading a #1 online team on Delta Force with my right-hand man, Harry denOughden from the Netherlands and my Mom who was strangely good at stealth and 'knifing' snipers. It was running to meet my Dad when he came home from work. It was stocking up on military goods from grandpa's store (an old man who still sold things at the price they would have been in 1943). It was exploring the woods and pastures at the Groves on horseback. It was mad rollerblading skills at rink on thursdays. It was helping Mom in the garden. It was catching more catfish than we knew what to do with at the pond up the mountain. It was riding my bike for miles down a dirt road. It was building forts and cabins on the back acres. It was playing bluegrass with the whole family. It was listening to my celtic albums and attempting to play along. It was more days on end in the woods. It was traipsing through the snow until I could no longer feel any of my extremities. It was ramping the datson around the chicken houses. It was falling out of the hay loft and busting my head. It was finding coyote and mountain lion dens with my brother...wow that wasn't safe. It was having supper with the family around the table...together. It was bible devotions every night before bed and singing hymns and praise songs until Nicole or I fell asleep. It was grand and I thank God for it. Wouldn't trade it for anything.