Remember When

I looked out the window this morning and saw all that snow. How different it was when I was about 11 or 12 I think. Back in those days I would pack myself a lunch and be gone all day. No cel phone and my mother didn't think a thing about it. The only good thing about Good Friday, was that finally spring would be here and I could get my bike out of the garage. It was my "right of spring". The sun might shine, sometimes it would rain for a while but I would pile my sandwich and cookies and a jar of kool aid and my book into the basket of my bike, oh and a towel to sit on and ride across Fort Erie to where the Niagara River meets Lake Erie. Back in the 30's , I think, there was a huge dance hall with bathing pools, shops, and I think even a barber shop all in this huge complex. In the late 50's all that was left was a jumble of concrete walls with fades painted signs, example "Please do not disrobe children in the bathing area."..giggle... If I found the right spot I would be out of the wind and I could sit on a concrete pad, on my towel, in the sun and read and watch the birds swooping over the water and eat my sandwich. Some times I would even stretch out and have a nap. How innocent those times were. I never saw another soul and when I got bored it would be time to ride home. Once I remember it rained on the way home and I put my book under my clothes and draped the towel over my head while I rode. What a sight I must have been! If it rained too badly and I couldn't go I would sit by my bedroom window and still have my picnic lunch.I observed that little ritual even into my high school years.