When I was growing up kids played outside more. I was reminded of this when I was watching my little brother figure out how to climb a tree this weekend. I noticed that he and my younger brothers did not spend nearly as much time outside as I did when I was their age.

My little brother asked me if we used tablets when I was in kindergarten. I told him, my dear boy those were not invented when I was your age. My younger brothers talk about movies and shows on television like it’s their own life. Sure I had some shows I greatly enjoyed when I was younger but I enjoyed them in between a plethora of other memories when I was younger.

A big part of my childhood was taken up at this creek that was about a five-minute walk down my street. That is where my best friend, brother, and neighborhood friends and I would go to ride bikes, swim, look for lost golf balls from the neighboring golf course, or just run around and explore the woods.

We even had a little area that was a big hill leading up to a dirt ramp that we would hurtle ourselves across. The ramp was designated as home base and we had many other bases and bunkers stationed nearby. It was all situated next to an old RV park that had long since been abandoned. All that was left of it was wood interrupted by a neighborhood roads but without any houses around.

One time when we were adventuring in the woods we all decided to sneak over to the golf course on the other side of the creek. My brother, yellow lab Cooper and I made our way to the other side and ran all over the golf course eventually making it to the actual gated community. We walked around and took it all in. We got bored and left before we got chased out. After we realized how many people would lose golf balls on the other side of the creek we started going down there with backpacks and getting tons of free golf balls that we cleaned up.

I look back on these memories with a great deal of nostalgia and longing for the good old days because that’s really what they were. When we were out in the woods jumping bikes, wading through creaks, collecting golf balls, and exploring abandoned neighborhoods, we were not stressing out about anything. We were not focused on outside drama. We were enjoying the moment. Who’s to say we can’t be like that now.