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10/12/2003 Archived Entry: "BOYS CAME TO VISIT"

BOYS CAME TO VISIT

Yesterday afternoon some of my favorite kids came to visit who included my grandson Tyler..a Deming, Buchholtz, Goddard and Montague. They are the same ones who once spent their summers in our woods building forts, tree houses and hovels. They would devote hours gathering natural materials...logs, bark and vines...necessary for their construction needs. Frequently they would arrive early in the morning and stay until sundown...with frequent trips inside for food and drink. Some of their projects were pretty ingenious and they held up under the ravages of the elements until school started and their interests would turn to athletics and other more important things.

Yesterday they were busy in my kitchen fixing nachos, the proper way Brit fixes them. They filled one pan and baked it, then another...and another. They were pretty full of hot peppers and cheddar cheese by the time they headed to their homes for dinner. And the neat thing is, Tyler and Ross did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen without being asked. They both love this house and I love it that they care for things around here. It's a pleasure to have kids around who also clean up after themselves.

They were going to crash on our family room floor for the night, but as it turned out, they'd done just that at Tyler's the previous night and the parents wisely thought better of a repeating a sleepless night. They are good kids...and have a great time together...and are building a lot of wonderful memories together.

I think that is something that separates country kids from city kids, at least in part. They have the freedom to do things in a small town...like the hours they spend in our yard while the parents know someone is keeping an eye out for them. Maybe it would be better to say they can be happy doing things like that...creating their own fun that doesn't require uniforms and referees or trips across town to be entertained. They gather together and go from house to house or down town, and spend hours talking to one another...building memories that will last them a lifetime.