A Fond Look Back at Innocence

Want cute? Try taking a canoe ride with a 4 year old and a baby daschund. They were both so happy this weekend to be there that the roasting sun and hot life jackets could not deter the joy. Plus, there is that innocence that keeps them unaware of the hazardous creatures sharing the river with us such as snakes and snapping turtles. Although the memory of my first (and last) snapping turtle injury is seared permanently in my brain from way back when I was her age, she will never know the joy of holding an undomesticated animal. I, unlike my parents, do not pick up snapping turtles and let my toddler keep them as pets. I would also not let my toddler pet a turtle’s head as my parents did one steamy summer evening. Sadly, there were only 3 options available to us back then:
1. Cut off my finger
2. Wait for lightning to strike
3. Kill Snappy
Dad quickly chose option 3.
Anyway, I suppose Mom and Dad would not have put a life jacket on me and my dog either. As a matter of fact, they probably would have driven my siblings and me out to the river on the toolbox in the back of the pickup. (Why bother with seatbelts). I’m sure there would not have been a well-thought-out ice chest full of water and snacks for us as one of Mom’s favorite responses to, “I’m thirsty!” was always, “Want me to spit in your mouth?”
Those were the days. They also made sure to stop and feed us wild grapes whenever they saw some. Not many people know what that’s like, but they are delicious! Sadly, if there is no drink available, the acid in them will immediately blister your lips and mouth. Even Mom’s spit couldn’t fix that.
Another thing…sunscreen? I bathe my child in it. She is so well-protected she looks like Casper. When I was her age, it was nothing for me to be sporting 2nd degree urn blisters from the day before while swimming unprotected for hours in direct sun…nothing a little vinegar and real aloe vera wouldn’t fix. I would just sleep closer to the opened window letting the allergens float in all night to my feverish skin and sip on my whiskey, lemon and honey hot toddy if the allergens made me wheezy.
I did, however, survive my childhood somehow, minus seatbelts, sunscreen, life jackets, epi pens, and a host of other precautions that seem to now just be part of life. Unfortunately, I probably will have early wrinkles and melanoma. Certainly I enjoy drinking too much as an adult although I haven’t had a hot toddy in a while.