Cardboard boxes, creek water and honeysuckle

Sometimes I  wonder how I  survived  childhood.
There were no  childproof locks, or plugs for  the electrical  sockets.

We didn't  have  seat  belts, air  bags or  special safety car seats.
We played on a concrete playground  with steel monkey  bars.
We played in  the  mud, drank  out  of  hoses-remember the taste  of water  from  the  hose?

We walked  everywhere-no  fear  of  kidnapping, or  perverts.

When  we  moved   from D.C,  to  Maryland  we  discovered  new  exciting  things.

Our  house  backed  into  Sligo Creek  Parkway. We  had to  walk  through a  small  stretch of  woods-that  led to a  big  hill then  the  creek.

One of  the first things we  learned  from  the  neighborhood kids
sledding in  the spring and  summer.
First you  find a  big  cardboard  box-the  kind that  console televisions  came  in, or  better yet a  refrigerator one- much  bigger and more  to  share,
We would  tear of  a  big piece, hold  it in  front of  our bodies,take a running start  and  dive down  he  hill  with the  cardboard as the sled.

Another great  thing to  do with a  box-leave  in  shape, climb  in  and  roll   down  the-we   would  get  cuts  and  bruises-but  never  anything  serious.
When we were tired of playing with the  cardboard., we would head  on  down  to  the  creek.

We  need  more  creeks in  this  world. 
Sligo creek  was  teeming   with all  sorts  of aquatic life.
We would watch  the  water striders skim  across the surface, we  would  catch minnows, crayfish, salamanders, and  in early spring tadpoles and  later  frogs.
We  never  kept  anything, it  was the  original catch  and  release.
However, sometimes  we would find a box turtle and  take  it  home for a few days.

When it  was  realy  hot and  were  thirsty, we  would scoop up a handful of  creek water and  drink, sometimes  we  would even  stick our  mouth in  the  creek and  slurp.

We never got  sick.
We would play in the  woods, and  eat wild  mulberries and blackberries. We would uproot sassafras and  chew  on  the  root, and once  we  found a  persimmon  tree-only one  in  all the  woods.

There was a  lot of  honeysuckle  growing around, and  we  pick  the flowers and  try  to suck  the  honey  out  of  them. Sometimes, I  think the  fragrance of  the  flowers  influenced  the  taste.

I never  swallowed  a bee and  I  never  got sick  from  the honeysuckle.

We  did a lot of  dangerous  things  growing  up  and  we  survived,

Todays kids spend too  much  time in front of  the computer, or on their cell phone.
They may  never experience the joys  of  catching a frog, or  wading through a creek. They will  never know the  thrill  of  rolling down  a  hill in a cardboard box.

But perhaps, they have  an  app  for that.