"Reminiscing..............................."

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After morning worship and dinner at O’Charley’s, Beth and the oldest daughter left me at home while they drove to get themselves a pedicure; and, with an hour or so to kill, I opted to take my first walk outside in about six months. The temperature was in the upper eighties, but a slight breeze made it a pleasant experience, especially while hiking along the shaded trail through the wooded section separating the railroad tracks from the creek.

If my view was obstructed by all the shrubbery and branches on either side of me, the sounds of people picnicking nonetheless let me know the park was full of life. Indeed, everywhere I looked, once across the bridge, families were tossing horseshoes, grilling hotdogs, and watching the kids chase each other to get the best swing on the playground. It was the sight of children, however, ankle-deep in the water and, with their father, trying to catch minnows with a net that took me back about sixty years. We lived in the inner city and at least part of what summer meant was the fun of camping out on a river bank somewhere. The Ohio was close if all we had was a weekend. I suppose it was the Licking that we so often visited down in Cynthiana, my only memory of it being that spot where we pitched the tents and the overflow from some nearby dam creating shallow where us youngins searched for crawdads. It was different times. We cooked over an open fire, sacked out in sleeping bags, and explored the area looking for vines strong enough to support Tarzan as he swung through the jungle. Nowadays “roughing it” is no more than loading your RV with all the modern technology you own and parking it wherever you decide to stop, knowing that if you get hungry, McDonalds is right down the road a mile or so. Where’s the adventure in that?