My Simple, Happy Childhood

Inspired by a conversation I had with my child on gadgets and nature...

 When I was a kid, there were no celphones, no laptaps, none of those gadgets that needed to be charged. Yet oh boy, what fun we had!

At times, we'd run around with no slippers and feared no harm as our soles felt the softness of damp grass.

I remember sitting on grassy ground, looking up the clear blue sky and staring at the clouds imagining a thousand and one things those soft fluffy heavenly white "cottonballs" formed. There was a fairy, a dog, a cat and even candies up above and we giggled non-stop!

My brother and I would make bubbles out of hibiscus petals' sap. "Alugbati" fruits were such fun to squeeze on the ground painting vivid violet hue! We'd climb the guava tree proudly occupying our backyard in which dad hammered into blocks of wood we sat upon. Pretending it were a helicopter we let the branches sway as we sang. Boy how beautifully we sang! LOL

When grandma would come from the market she'd have all sorts of native goodies and one of 'em was "bibingka" some sort of a rice hotcake. It has a natural taste that lingers in the mouth and the aroma of banana leaf to this day brings back to me a lot of memories.

Just after the start of the rainy season such huge grasses would abound and we'd play with it from sunrise to sundown. We'd pull it out and cut it into half with our nails and then pull the halves until it formed either a square or a Y shape betting in the process how it'll turn out. Life was so simple then!

As summer vacation commences there'd be dragonflies adorning the gardens! We'd chase 'em rain or shine being delighted by their glimmering colorful wings!

Then there was Sampaguita the flower of my childhood. It has this sweet smell that makes one think of full moons and summer skies!

And of course the "Makahiya" whose leaves we'd touch holding our breath to keep it from "closing".

Our playmates included beloved farm animals who kept our days busy! There were goats, and carabaos and cows! Oh yes, cats and dogs too!

For snack guess what we had? "Santol," "Guyabano," "Guavas" and Pomelo filled my tummy!

On weekends, dad would take us with him fishing and we stayed by the sea until the sunsetting. 

Life was beautiful- it still is yet somehow in this complex world we have now where fruit names have become electronically-bound and communication across the miles is as swift as the blink of an eye, something is MISSING......and in my heart I know that it is The Simple Quiet Life of my childhood....

 Share if you had, the same wonderful kind of childhood :)