Remember how fun it was being a kid? Long, long ago, way back before life became all work and drudgery and our souls were sucked out by the machine? Every day was an adventure, wasn't it? Saturday morning cartoons. Comic books. Family cars with no seat belts. Endless bowlfuls of sickeningly sweet sugar coated cereal. Bologna sandwiches with slices of American cheese. Oreos. Standing in line waiting for the bus to come - wondering which irritating little prissy girl at school was going to fall off the monkey bars today and crack her head on the fully exposed cement footer? Which unsuspecting clod of a snot nosed little boy was going to go face first over the edge of the 3" slide sidewall and plummet screaming into the boiling hot 3/4" gravel below? Remember that constant, in-the-back-of-your-head thought, every recess - 'I wonder who's going to end up in the nurse's office today?' And someone always did! Thank God it wasn't you. The classroom would be abuzz over the bloody nose or gashed chin. How is Tommy doing? Is his mom coming to get him? Will he get stitches? Cool!
We were bound together by those experiences, weren't we? Back then your friends and classmates were more than just other kids you went to school with. They were your buddies. Life was dangerous, and only the strongest were going to survive. Who would make to the end of the school year? How many friends would we lose? Who would be left to go onto the next grade?
Those were the days. Back when parents didn't constantly hover over, coddle and smother/protect their kids from every hard knock, bruise or terrifying misstep. Back when a wrenched arm or a near death experience was as common place as cavities and Band-aids. Back in the day when kids fully understood that life doesn't always come with a safety net! And still, with life coursing through our little veins we would run head-long and screaming into all the fun and happiness we could squeeze out of the day, unfazed by the peril that constantly surrounded us! Life was electric!
Here's to those days - with some of the actual playground equipment I risked my life on!
The "Scorcher" - Imagine the feeling of sheer exhilaration scrambling up this all metal slide at noon on a 100+ degree Summer day, in nothing but flip-flops, shorts and a tank top, making it to the top without falling, adrenaline pumping, and plopping down onto the 200+ degree, diamond plate metal "skillet"! I can clearly remember the exact feeling of the skin on the backs of my legs being instantly seared! Then seared further as I slid down the all metal slide! Wow! Awesome!
The "Tooth-Chipper" - The 'funnest' part about this toy was how easy it was to get someone to stand on the metal parabolic
dish center piece and try to balance as 4 kids went nuts bouncing away and
screaming trying to get them to fall. The 'funniest' part was when one
of the 4 would lose track of their mind and the all-metal toy animal they were bouncing on would
pop up and wallop them in the mouth. No worries, though. There was always someone else ready to take the injured kid's station! After all, war isn't for sissies!
The
"Rocket of No Return" - My favorite! This 20-something foot tall,
diamond plate steel construction, playground toy is a legend in my home
town. More than able to sear skin off a kid in the Summer heat, it has
bars running up its sides which should only be construed as an
invitation to climb... and as a kid, I recall kids doing this often. Imagine the town's bravest children scaling this sizzling hot vertical
fun machine hand over hand, finally making it to the top, exhausted and overcome by heat, and then... then... then... (feel
the dread?)... me, too! That's why I love this playground toy! To my
knowledge, no kid ever plummeted to their demise onto the hard pack
dirt below, but the possibility of seeing that was always vertigo inducing.
But,
funny enough, my daughter (pictured below descending the rocket's slippery metal ladder in flip-flops) did
slip and wrench her arm! Which was a standard rite of passage on this
beloved toy. She was fine. She survived. She learned. She remembers. Like me! Like all my friends! We remember - and actually, we miss those days! Do you?
