May 23, 2007
4 Snapshots of a City Kid in the Country
He wakes up, takes a walk with dad, sees 2 rabbits, 1 beaver, 2 deer, 4 ducks, and several fish...asks if we are in a zoo.
He marvels at the lack of cars on the roads. Creates a song called, "'No car street. No car day."
He stands and ponders the expanse of grass. For the New York City kid a few hundred feet of unpeopled grass is unheard of. City two year olds are constantly being told not to run, not to go too far, not to touch, to look both ways, et-cetera. Two year olds are of course programmed to run, so an endless swath of grass looks like pure freedom. He pauses as the exhilaration builds, laughs and takes off at high speed for the top of the hill. Unlike older kids, the two year old does not modulate his speed. He runs as fast as he can as far as he can. Reaching the top of the hill and seeing nothing but more grass on the other side he runs down. Soon he falls and rolls but falling on grass doesn't hurt. This is novel. In the city when you fall it stings. Not so here. Giggling uncontrollably he rolls around some more, springs up and runs up another hill.
He sees a sky full of stars for the first time in his life and gets very quiet. After a while he asks, "Daddy, stars take home?"
to this site
05/24/07 01:30 AM
Jen Bekman said...
Reading this makes me oh-so-happy!
05/24/07 12:36 PM
Jenn said...
The benefits of country living! When I was 13 I was sure there were none. But now I can't imagine not having those things, since I did grow up in the middle of nowhere.
Yet, only 6 hours away from New York. But it couldn't have seemed further away.