Back in the day

Let's just talk about how things have changed. When I was younger, my younger brother and I would go on a bike ride every Saturday, without helmets, across railroad tracks and busy streets. We would be gone for hours as we rode the same route every week. We lived right next to Utah lake and we would ride the three miles one way to Utah Valley University, which was called UVCC then. On the campus was a waterfall of sorts and a fountain. My brother and I would swim in the water for what felt like hours. Not many people were around and so we just played and played in the water. We must have known that we shouldn't be doing that because we knew that we had to be dry before we went home again. So, we would go across the street to Vineyard Elementary and play on the gigantic metal slide that was on the playground. We would check to see if any of the doors were open to the school. If we were lucky, Ms. Rawlings' door would be unlocked. She was the resource teacher, so she had candy in her cupboards. Kit Kat's to be exact. We would get in her cupboards and eat her candy. We would go back outside and play until we felt like we were dry enough and then we would go home. Our mom never asked where we had gone or what we had done. We knew that we needed to be home by dinner and so we would be. We rode unsupervised around semi trucks and around the arms that were down across the railroad tracks on 400 South. I don't remember ever feeling scared or worried that someone was going to take us. The only thing my mom would say when we left was,"Don't get hit by a semi or I'll have to kill ya!" We would roll our eyes as we ran out of the house to go on our weekly bike ride. This last week I was reminded again about how different things are now. We were eating dinner and K said,"Do you know what Aden said at recess today?" I asked what and he said,"He said that a boy can marry a boy!" I asked K what he had said to Aden and he started laughing and said,"I told him no!" Then M told us that that day they had practiced what to do,"If a bad guy was in our school. We all have to run to that carpet and be totally silent. Mrs. K will put a piece of paper over the glass in the door so that the bad guy will think that the class is empty and won't come in. The door is always locked, so at least he can't get in without breaking the door." K piped in and said,"Oh yeah! we practiced too. We all have to crowd into the bathroom that's in our class and we have to be really quiet." How sad! I remember doing earthquake drills and fire drills. But I never had to do bad guy drills and my friends never told me that a boy could marry a boy. I don't let our kids go out in the front yard to play unsupervised very often. I think about how we've been told not to be helicopter parents, but I think it's too risky to let kids play in the front alone with so many weirdo's out there. My parents would let us sleep in the front yard in the summer. I won't even let our kids sleep with their windows open, let alone sleep outside alone. K was saying something yesterday and he said,"back in the day..." Amen to that! Back in the day when you could ride a bike without telling your parents where you were going and what you were doing and when you would be back and have no fears about bad guys.

Oh dear, this seems to have turned into kind of a downer post. That's not great! Let's look at a cute little kid and a sweet ride. The cute little kid should make you smile, but if he doesn't the sweet ride should.

We saw this in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby. We weren't the only ones taking a picture of it either. I saw two other guys stop their cars, get out and take a picture. This picture does not do the car justice. We had another picture of the back of it, but it got erased. This is the sweetest corvette I've ever seen. It's gotta be the newest one that they make. I saw it first and knew that K was going to be in car heaven, we parked across from it and told him to look out the window. I wish that I had a picture of his face when he saw it for the first time. I really think that tears filled his eyes. His mouth fell open and he said, almost in a whisper "Oh! Awesome! Daddy! look at that corvette!" He wanted to touch it, but I told him that I don't think we should since it's not ours. He loved the red seats, he loved that there were four exhaust pipes in a row in the back. He loved that it said corvette on the red brakes, he loved all of it! The owner came out of the store as we walked away. We watched it drive away and the sound will forever be in my ears (and heart!). K stood there with his mouth open and a dreamy look in his eyes as it drove away. Of course now he wants B to get one even more than before. He wants B's to be blue. When I say we won't all fit in a corvette he says,"Well, me and daddy can ride in the blue corvette and you guys can ride in the acadia!" I asked him how fast he thinks this can go and he said with a huge smile on his face,"probably like 100!" If seeing this picture doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will!