Life was different 25, 30 years ago. The world was still a safe place to be and we rarely locked our doors. We slept outside in the backyard with friends. Heck, sometimes we slept in the front yard. Without a fence! We trick-or-treated by ourselves in the dark and we played night games in the summer until 11 o'clock. We heard about bad things but they seemed to happen in far-off places that I thought I'd never visit.
It was the summer of '83 or '84, so that would make me 10 or 11 years old. Since we lived in the corner of the valley, quite literally a couple miles from corner canyon, my friends and I got a wild hair. We wanted to climb "the mountain." That mountain turned out to be Lone Peak. So, one warm afternoon, Me, Jeff Noall, David Fox, and Scott Espinet decided we were going to get to the top of that mountain. I don't think we took much of anything with us other than our school backpacks loaded with some water and a little snack. Oh, and my mom's HUGE Polaroid camera. We hiked and hiked and hiked and once the day was half over, we decided we should stop and take some pictures and head back down the mountain. To this day I can get onto Google Earth and point out almost our exact location. It was pretty high; about 8,880 feet above sea level. It was nearly 5 miles of walking, as far as I can gather; maybe 2 hours from the top. That's saying something for 10 year-old kids. I still have one of those pictures floating around somewhere. I think we were holding up our knives like we had conquered a grizzly bear. Or Mount Everest.
Later in the summer we decided to go back up that mountain and have us a campout! We grabbed sleeping bags and walking sticks and a few matches and took off. The face of a mountain is not an easy place to sleep. We hiked pretty high again and found a decent spot for camping. We set up our sleeping bags and were well on our way to a cozy night under the stars.
Then we shuddered as the sky across the valley became streaked with lightning.
It was near dark when the rain and wind kicked up. Since we had no tents, we decided to head back home. We said a quick prayer and hiked down the mountain in the pouring rain, in the dark. Without the light of the moon or stars, we could not trace our same "trail" back down. What am I talking about? There was no trail! We blazed our own trail! We literally clawed our way up that mountain through thick scrub oak. Sometimes a game trail provided a little relief. It was crazy. So for the next 2+ hours or so we hiked down that mountain, actually walking in the river that was being created by the deluge. Not smart, what with the possibility of being swept away in a flash flood, but we had no other trail to follow.
I look back after 25 years and realize what a lucky bunch of boys we were. Lucky we didn't perish on that mountain and lucky that we lived in a world where a parent could let their 10 year-old sons hike up a mountain in the summer without too much worry (or any adult supervision). We could take our BB guns and .22 rifles into the hills and shoot at potguts or squirrels or targets for hours and hours. We'd catch lizards in "the gully" or snakes on top of the old airport hill. And we rode our bikes EVERYWHERE. When we were REAL energetic we'd ride down to Frank's in Draper and get some soda or candy and then get some surgical tubing from the pharmacy and make Water Weenies. You'd plug the end with the end of a clicky-top pen and clip of the other end shut after you'd filled it with water. Seemed like those things could shoot a million miles.
Our house in Sandy was a multi-level home, so it was pretty tall if you were at the highest window. Sean and I used to place the trampoline directly underneath the highest bathroom window. Then we'd take every spare pillow and blanket we could find and pile it onto the tramp. Then, no kidding, we'd swan dive out of the window onto the trampoline. If we were real daring we'd do a suicide jump. That was where you dive headfirst and then turn onto your back at the last second before impact.
You'd think I grew up in Sandy, what with all the experiences and stories. We only lived there for about 18 months.
The world has changed SO much since I was young. There is no way in hades I would allow my 10 year-old children to do some of the things I did. Are we overprotective of our kids these days? Are we depriving them of skills and knowledge? Perhaps the cost of obtaining those same skills has become too high?
Me, Myself and I
- Mateo
- I am a Mormon...married to Lisa. We have 5 awesome children. I am a gun rights advocate and believe the 'right to keep and bear arms' refers to an INDIVIDUAL right, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. I like to hunt big game, although I have only ever killed a single buck deer. I am an actor of sorts and have been in many local plays and musicals.
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7 comments:
I want to hear what people have to say about this too.
I wish the scriptures would give more detail at times. If the earth was so wicked in the times of Noah that God had to cleanse the earth, how wicked is that? If it was anything like this, how did they survive? How could it have been so wicked if there was no media to steal our thoughts and poison minds. How could peoples priorities be so mixed up if they didn't have so many things taking their time away. The difference to me seems measurably large.
Being "in the world and not of it" is scary - and I don't want to do it! I don't want my kids to have to do it.Why shouldn't I protect them and keep them in safe harbors? Can they really take the waves and conquer them? How can they, if they have no one to teach them to do it?
I especially am scared. I am a sheltered stay at home mom, and am tossed about by the confusion and fright of the world.
Probably the most dangerous excursion for my boys would be squeezing through the park's fence and checking out the graffiti on the parked trains! I won't let them far enough out of my sight for anything else. But reading about your childhood makes me want that for them (except for the trampoline thing - now that's plain crazy!)
Times have changed and the world is definately not the same safe place we knew 25 years ago. Even 15 years. I try to give Brennan some freedom to make the right choices and experience life on his own. I do drop him off at the ski resorts and let him be with his friends. I do however call him on his cell phone every hour and make sure that he is remembering who he is and what his mother will do if he gets in trouble. It reminds me of the drinking commercial of the protective parents.
I remember in 7th grade sneaking out and going TPing. I would spank Brennan if he ever sneaked out.
GREAT memory, Lance. It hearkened me back to the innocent time of MY youth. We were so safe, we were so trusting--because the world back then allowed it, encouraged it, even. Thanks!
THAT'S what I'm talkin' bout, dude--your fun growin' up years. And, yes indeed, times have changed so much. I long for the days when my kids were growing up, because it was so easy for them to make their own, filled-with-action-lives. They weren't scheduled, driven, car-pooled, or activitied to death. They walked out of the house in the morning, played long and hard all day, and checked in once in a while to appease my worries. But--worries for a mom back then were so much less than worries for moms now. The world is so sneaky and underhanded now that you stand guard over your children at all times, waiting for the world to think of something you haven't thought of to spirit your children away.
Great Post, Lance.
Hi Everyone! It's ME!!!!!!
To me there is a difference in the moral aspects of danger to our children and the playful excursions of a child. At least in most measures. However, that might be naieve coming from someone who has all girls and had all sisters. I rarely knew such physical and aggressive behaviors that boys seem to exhibit more naturally. It sounds pretty fun!! How do you remember such detail? I can't remember most of the time, what I did the previous day?
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