An Importan Moment

For some reason, a very specific moment stands out in my memory from my childhood. It’s fairly important to me because it was a strong bonding moment between my cousins and I. I grew up an only child, so my cousins (who were the same age as me) took the place of siblings. In my old backyard there was a playscape that was very colorful. The colors ranged from light green to bright orange to a darker pink. It had a couple of small ladders as well as being equipped with a slide. What child playscape would be complete without a slide?  Our backyard was fairly small, well comparatively small to a lot of backyards that I’ve seen. But to me it was huge, as everything is when you are young. The world seems so large in your eyes. Above the playscape was a large tree that I would frequently climb in my youth. Because of this the playscape was shaded often. One afternoon my cousins BJ, Brandon, Seirenna, and I were playing in it. The day prior to this occasion it had rained heavily. This made the dirt that was inside the playscape transform into a very creamy mud. It was sunny that day so the mud was strangely warm to the touch. The mud would feel so smooth in your hand. It’s strange looking back now, because I would now not even contemplate playing with mud, yet alone enjoying it. But back then you don’t think about getting dirty. You don’t worry about your appearance. You somehow never get tired. You’re just so full of energy. We would use the mud to make “mud pies,” “mud tacos,” and “mud hamburgers.” We would use the leaves from the tree, that were so vividly green, as the buns or the shell of the taco and the mud as the beef. It was so hot that summer. But there was a smooth breeze under the shade and the playscape would somehow trap the wind inside like an air tunnel. We would throw mud at each other and laugh for no real reason. I guess we would just laugh because we were young.