The old neighborhood

During Junior High my friends were a group of kids from the other end of the street. One of the primary focuses of our existence was Ted's Lego set which was the most extensive of anyone we knew. Clicking those little plastic pieces together was not only colorful but magical. Ted made some amazing flying spacecraft out of those things that were the envy of every one of us. We also spent quite a bit of time playing street hockey which we all enjoyed. Now and then things would get rough and the other guys parents would get angry because I was bigger than the other kids. Anger aside, once I got into High School it was a kind of right of passage that I not spend much time with those guys. I had to reluctantly agree and they became closer friend's with each other. I began spending more time with Paul from all the way down the other end of the street who was my own age. We watched the Bruins a lot and there were always Red Sox games on at his house as well as the Sunday movie of the week and Soap Operas. We had to watch All My Children a lot as well. I lost track of Ted and the old gang though I did not forget them. Life just kind of threw things at you and you had to accept them.
Paul spent a certain amount of time over the farm up the road and it was there I met Dana, the son of the owner. He drove the tractors all around the fields and we all played softball next to his house with the girls from across the street, all of whom we thought were beautiful at the time, even too much so if that were possible, and it was possible. Suddenly we had reached an age where through newly found foggy glasses of the heart, they had gotten very beautiful indeed. Life it seemed was now capable of new highs and new lows as well. But once that summer ended, the girls had more exciting things to think about then us locals. They too were getting more involved in school and all the guys there. Dana and I ended up gathering the cows out in the field and helping Tom bring them into the barn at afternoon milking time. Tom let Dana weigh the milk and pour it into the huge tank that lead into the bottling plant.
I took some long walks out back in the pasture and came home with my clothes stinking of cows which my mother made sure I changed as soon as possible. On my walks through the fields, I contemplated the utter sadness of the loss of the great summer of softball with the girls. Had any time in life been more profound than that? I waited hours across the street on the farm just hoping they would come by and hang out with us. I built a small plywood and two by four cabin down the back which got me out of the sun and most importantly, the rain. It also offered something that became increasingly important with age, solitude, time for contemplation, another newfound addition to being human. People actually spent time thinking about things and trying to analyze the what and they why of it all.