I am meeting the intent of Laura's meme, if not quite playing by the rules. I've learned my lesson on passing the fun torch. Linkwhorage aside, here are my reflections on her question What five things do you miss about childhood most?

Neverending time...
I've written before about how, as a kid, summers lasted forever and Christmas took eons to roll around again. Back then, life consisted of a series of singular important moments that seemed much more like separate still shots than the movie that is my life today. Within the space of one day there was possibility for magic and miracles with very little sadness. My life loomed before me full of promise and adventure. Somewhere around the age of 12 or 13 I lost that, and I don't know exactly why or how. I remember watching the war on Vietnam reported on the black and white TV and knowing then and there that I had lost that cocoon of innocence which had protected me as a child. The image of the map of that faraway place on the TV is burned into my brain.

Makin' cookies...
Another vivid memory that I have is of killing time on a rainy Saturday afternoon while watching Shirley Temple movies. Out of boredom I would whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies from scratch or some sugar/butter cut-outs if it was around a holiday. We had cookie cutters in every shape imaginable from Christmas trees to hearts. The icing was separated into bowls and colored different hues with food coloring. Sprinkles on top were optional. There were no frozen pizzas or french fries back then, either. I first made a pizza in about the 5th grade.....from a box....by Kraft, and I fell madly in love. Our fries were hand cut from real 'taters.

Family reunions...
My Mom's family mostly lived around here, and we gathered often and heartily...especially on holidays. Her parents lived in a very cool house with a huge backyard where there was a picnic table and plenty of room for kids to run. Pitchers of sweet iced tea and platters of fried chicken sat atop a red checked tablecloth waiting to be devoured. My daddy's extended family lived in Mississippi so once a year ( in the hottest part of the summer) we would travel there to an old country house where I remember lots of old people and the best pies I ever ate. Lots of fried chicken there too.!

The river...
The farm is bordered by a river that snakes its' way all over West Tennessee. I could walk a mile down the gravel road and find myself right on the edge of a whole 'nother world. Once I found an old canoe next to the bank and fell into that muddy snake water trying to get into it. From that point on I stayed on land and pondered life under a canopy of beautiful trees . The old river was bad to flood us right into town for a couple of weeks every year and I remember when the Corp did some dredging and channelling later on that cured that problem but changed the face of the river forever. My oldest brother spent hours with those guys and their heavy equipment, enthralled by the whole operation.

My pets...
I can never EVER remember being without a critter of some sort to keep me company. There was always a stray cat or two and usually one or two dogs to play with. My brothers and Daddy adopted a crow. I starved my pet rabbit to death through neglect. The sound of cows mooing is like music to my ears, still. I never cared much for the chickens, especially after I got flogged and saw a couple of 'em get their heads chopped off. Those suckers would flap and run around headless forever it seemed. Didn't care for the piggies either....they stunk and snorted and were generally just gross. Riding horses was fun but I never really lost the fear enough to enjoy the experience fully like some folks do.

Simplicity...
This is where ( one of the many times ) my parents were right ON the money, telling me that time would pass more and more quickly the older I got. Things may not have been so simple for them back then, but for me life was easy and comfortable and loving. There were very few problems, and the ones we had we just didn't talk about 'cuz it didn't solve anything in the long run. We just got up, faced the day and savored every minute of it. Daddy had a huge garden every year and Momma spent summers sweatin' in the kitchen cooking up the produce and canning it. When we got dirty, we took a bath. When somebody died, we paid our respects in person and mourned for a respectable period of time. All the neighbors knew and loved each other and existed happily integrated during a time when blacks and whites were worlds apart in "real life".

I realize now that my childhood was full of lots of good things that many kids didn't have and that I was blessed in that respect. For some reason that brings to mind a line from the Eagles song Get Over It...."i'd like to find your inner child and kick its' little ass". We all came from somewhere with good and bad in it. As adults we can choose to take what we were given and become something worthy or we can whine about where we've been. I choose the former.