by Mekesha Call

Created on: December 03, 2009

I grew up in one of the most amazing environments a child could have. Everything around me sparked my imagination and creativity. When you are surrounded by dirt roads, infinite acres of land, ponds, creeks, and animals, you are never bored. It's no wonder I find myself today, all grown up and living in the city, wishing I was a kid again.

We lived on an old country dirt road where every inch of woods was ours for exploring. One of our favorite places to go was Paradise Island. My brother and I were following a trail one day, and came across a small pond in the middle of nowhere. We were convinced that no one else knew about it. We let two of our cousins in on the secret, and the four of us decorated our island with old lawn chairs, tables, and anything else we could drag down the trail. We put up signs along the trail reading things like, Keep out, or Pirates Ahead, and Paradise Island was born. We had so much fun pretending to defend our island, finding treasures buried along the bank, and having picnics in the grass. I hope some other kid has found it by now and made it their own. Places like that are too good to just be forgotten.

I remember we had a huge hill behind our house that time and rain had made into a sort of cliff. My brother, sister, and I would climb as far up as we could, and chip away dirt and rocks looking for dinosaur bones. We decided the way you could tell if they were true dinosaur bones was, when we dropped them in water they would fizz. Looking back now, I realize my Mother must truly be a saint. Who else would let us play with water in that red clay for the sake of our imaginations?

I will never forget when my brother and I built our own tree house. Our Step Dad decided to help us out a little when Mom realized we were tying the boards together with socks. He provided us with a hammer, nails, and some expert tree house building advice, but he still let us do some of the work on our own. He knew would want those bragging rites when our cousins came over to check it out. The tree house turned out to be one of my favorite places to do my homework, or just read a book.

Not everyday was spent exploring and playing. We did have work to do, but certain things our parents did made even those days a little more fun. Before winter, we would have to go up in the pasture and chop trees for firewood. But on the way up, we got to ride on the trailer behind the tractor. We even got a few tractor driving lessons. When time came to cut and

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