Born to be Wild

Actually, I don't know if I was born this way, but I quickly became a wild child at home. Now I can imagine my insides screaming, "See me! Pick me! I'm here!" At the time, I just remained in near-constant motion. If something could be climbed, I was on it. Wrestled? Ditto. Run around? Zoom! Kicked, punched, batted, poked, dragged, thrown...well, you get the picture.

One of my favorite Saturday indoor activities was to turn the T.V. on to the local channel for the Wide World of Wrestling. I would get all wound up because Ron and Don were cheating again and beating up my favorite wrestler, Whitey Caldwell (they'd hit him over the head with a garbage can or folding chair!). Then I'd get out my big orange stuffed bulldog and pounce on him and wrestle him all over the place. Mac told me many years later that I scared the shit out of him when I was doing that.

Of course, the ability to be wild indoors is somewhat limited by space constraints, but as you already know, I did manage to tear around the house on a roller skate boot. And I liked to climb sideways up the door frame, back against one side, feet pressed against the other, and "sit." But most of my wildness took place outside.

Again, you already know that one favorite outside activity was to race around the house, up the hill on one side, around the back, and down the other side, then dive and roll and stand up and take off again, over and over. I also did this on my bike, sans the diving and rolling part. At one point, I built some sort of ramp, just to keep things exciting.

I also enjoyed climbing the pine tree as high as I could go (30 feet?) and sit and look out over the tiny town of Maryville. One time I managed to coerce a neighbor up into that tree. To this day, she tells the story of the time I made her climb that tree. Of course, she tells it with more than a hint of pride that she actually did it. If I wasn't climbing the tree, I might climb up the antenna that ran alongside the chimney to get up on the roof then jump off one corner. "Geronimo!" I remember trying to "parachute" by using an umbrella. Unfortunately, since it was only about a ten foot drop, the umbrella didn't really have time to work.

In addition to more normal outdoor activities, such as riding my bike or going down the slide or playing on the swings or whirl-a-gig, I often took a football or baseball out to the field. There I would throw the ball as high and as far as I could (which was pretty far, if I do say so myself), then run as fast as I could to catch it at the other end.

Man, I wish I still had that kind of strength and energy! Just always in motion, always running headlong into this or that, full of myself. I miss that.

Oh, wait. That's kind of how I am now, only not so much with my body, just with my life. Wild Child, and proud of it.