by J. Doyle

Created on: July 28, 2008

There has always been a culprit in my past. As I sit here on my antique wrot iron chair with my feet propped on its twin. The breeze making the limbs of my weeping willow sway back and forth across my feet. I am reminded of the culprit I once was.

I call myself the culprit because I was so mischevious as a child. Awe, who am I kidding I still am. I have always lived for those moments that someone has left me an opening to slide into, and cause some havic.

It is so mesmerizing, to see the shocked looks. When a well planned prank comes off without a hitch. Sitting here under this weeping willow, I am dazzled by the memry of a very simular time under a very large willow. A willow so big that you couldn't see through the branches to the hidden trunk.

Childhood memories hold such fond memories at times. Like that time I heard mom calling and decided to play "hide-n-seek" without telling her that we were. I climbed up into the limbs by the tunk of that beautiful giant weeping willow. I remember giggling every time she passed. Thinking she will never find me here and I will jump out and run to the apartment the next time she goes by. For me it was a wonderful game and for once I was going to win. I made it back and into my room without getting caught.

Oh, but the game wasn't over yet, since she hadn't found me yet. The look on her face when she found me sitting on my bed was worth a million dollars. At least until I said "I won this time haha". I still think that it was worth the week of grounding I got, just to see that look. A weeping willow of one or another has played a big role in my past as I look back on growing up.

There was that time when I was 19 years old and spent a very blissful night hidden under a weeping willow in California. Who needs a tent, when you have a natural tent and a handsom bloke to go with it.

I really was a mischevious little devil. There was that time when I 16 years old. I had the car to go to the carnival that night. I was suppose to be home by midnight. I was having so much fun with my carnival friends, who were the same ones every year. I pulled the car up into the back of one of the semi-trucks. Then proceeded to dance and party in the back of the park under another great willow tree. We were there half the night. If you haven't figured it out yet, Texas has a lot of willow tree's. I spent half my childhood going back and forth from there to New York. My parents broke up when I was young, so I lived with mom in Texas, and visited dad in New York.

Awe, and I was very well known for skipping school, another of my great mischevious adventures as a child. Now skipping school was one of my favorite things to do. When the weather was good, me and my friends would skip out after lunch just to go to the lake. I loved living near the lake. A big bridge divided two towns. On our side of the lake it was all the normal stuff. On the other side of the bridge, the lake took on a whole new meaning. Meaning it was a nude beach. So we know why all the guys were skipping school, just to get a chance look at one of the college girls. We lived near three colleges and one was just a womens college.

We all enjoy reflecting on the past. Siting day dreaming about old times sure helps to relieve stress of every day life, not to mention putting a smile on your face. I just love taking walks down memory lane. It's especially blissful while sitting under this very beautifully filled out weeping willow. Sometimes I wonder, if anyone else ever found the seclusion of a weeping willow to be as special to them as they are to me.

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