Over earth and over sky
Over you and over
I don't know when it happened but I put my toys away. Playtime ended one day and that was it. I don't even remember. I wonder if it was a specific decision, like when I handed my father my diaper and said, "I don't want to do this anymore." Or maybe it came slowly. Maybe there were just less and less toys until one day, there were none left. I don't know.
I sure do miss them. I miss going to the park as a kid. There was a park by our house and we would walk down there fairly often; me, my brother, my dad, and our dog Macduff. In the winter we built snowmen and snow angels. In the Fall and Spring we would fly kites and throw those big styrofoam airplanes around. My favorite, though, was my brother's jets. He and my dad would launch these rockets that used real fire to shoot off. I was too young to be involved, but I was never jealous. I would just hang with the dog on the sidelines and reap the benefits. We always had the best seats in the house.
My father was an officer at the time. He flew jets. Real jets. I guess this was his way of showing us what his job was like. It was exciting. But he eventually left the Navy and we moved away from that park before I was ever big enough to launch a jet. I still have never launched one.
Over earth and over sky
Over you and over
I hope to, one day. Perhaps I'll go to a park with my own son to launch rockets. And maybe my son's first jet will be my first as well.
Photo by Sadie Myers. Words by Dustin Whitehead.
I'm amazed at my lack of a clear memory of such events. My recollection of these occurrences is so vague, that it feels like a movie I once saw... or maybe, more like a movie someone told me about.
ReplyDeleteMy memory in this particular instance has been replaced by a series of snapshots. Photographs of children in snow suits playing with a puppy. A puppy that would soon grow into a dog that would eventually be given away. The first of a small series of McDuff's that would suffer the same fate.
Though I do have a fuzzy recording in my mind of firing of rockets in a park, more so the smell associated with that particular type of rocket. Also the electrical Fire button that would cause the launch.
I wonder if Paxton will have my memory or his mother's. I guess his will be a unique one, specific to him. I think my memory has been blocked for reasons that I cannot control or explain. My hope is that Paxton never faces the same realities.
This is not to say that I am ungrateful for my life and history up to the present. I am, everything that I have experienced thus far has made me who I am. After reading this I felt a touch of sadness for what I have misplaced; the memories that I have locked away somewhere in my subconscious. But, as a positive note, I think this was one of them... so thank you.
Oh, by the way. You can take Pax to launch rockets any time.
_Matt