by Margi Bettelyoun

Created on: August 10, 2009   Last Updated: August 14, 2009

The Backyard Circus

Imagine warm summer sun, not hot, just warm. Imagine just mowed grass smelling like the fields of heaven. Imagine air so soft you can feel it on your skin.

Now imagine children who are both innocent and rambunctious, nave and yet experienced in their little corner of the world. They are not poor, nor are they rich. They know security so well that they do not know what it is. They live happily in a world of everything...and nothing. I know, because I was one of them.

We had nothing, no game boy, no MP3, no x box and very little television. We had everything, our minds, our imaginations, and our energy. On this particular warm summer day with soft air upon our faces and the sweet smell of grass implanted in our brains, we decided to put our riches (minds, imaginations, and energies) to work.

I lived in a neighborhood of children. There were two Meyers, one Lushbough, four Massas, five Shorts, four Finleys, and four of us. And we all had friends who lived in other parts of town! There was much imagination in our group coupled with tireless energy. We roamed the neighborhood from morning 'till night on these summer days. But most of the time the majority of the kids were in our yard. We had a big yard that served many purposes and adventures.

Just outside of the western edge was a railroad track. The freight trains usually hauled sugar beets or bentonite. The engineers and conductors knew all of us kids. Just inside the fence, in the North West corner was an old wood pile. During an earlier summer we built little cabins by piling up the logs. Down closer to the house was a big swing set that my Dad had made from galvanized pipe. It was the sturdiest swing set ever! Over in the southwest corner was my Dad's "shed" where he did his puttering and magical repairing. Just outside of the shed was a giant cottonwood tree that housed our prized 3 story tree house. On the south side of the house, the yard was divided in the middle by a row of trees, cottonwood, elm and black walnut. On the eastern edge it was rimmed by tall pines; the southern edge was wall of lilac bushes. In the eastern part of the side yard was a big catalpa tree and a concrete bird bath with pretty stones embedded into it.

While we had lots of adventures in our yard, we wanted to do something different. There was no whining "I'm bored" in our group. We decided to put on a backyard circus. We spent several days planning, making posters and general plotting. No parents

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