Youth is Wasted on the Young!

I’ve been tagged for my first ever MEME! Yay! Meg tagged me for the “5 Things You Miss About Childhood” Meme, and I’m tagging Jeannie because she’s the only blogger I know in real life (other than Meg and the folks she already tagged!) and I'm curious to know what she has to say! We're both from Northern New Mexico, which is a wacky, fabulous place.

So here’s how this works: If you want to participate the chain-letter part works like this: remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump every one up one place; add your blog’s name in the #5 spot; just check to make sure the links are still attached if you copy n' paste.

1. Kingfisher Cove
2. Ellen's Nest
3. The Farmette Report
4. Nepenthe's Misadventures
5. A Woman Obsessed

Things I miss from my childhood, in no particular order:

1. Summers. I grew up in Santa Fe, NM, and everyone we knew were members at the same swimming pool. We ALL spent EVERY DAY all summer long at the pool, and the days were just fabulous. The kids swam and played Marco Polo while the grown ups played Trivial Pursuit. Every so often the Dads would kick the kids out of the pool while they had a diving contest- usually cannonballs designed to soak the Moms tanning by the side of the pool. The pool stayed open late every Wednesday night, when we’d have potluck dinners and swim in the blue lagoon lighted pool. It was great. Fourth of July was particularly spectacular. We’d climb to the top of the lifeguard stand and watch fireworks over the city….

2. Skiing. My Dad was best friends with the man who owned the Santa Fe Ski Area, so we did LOTS of skiing as kids. Skiing is my all time favorite sport- I love that it makes me feel both graceful and strong at the same time. I love being outside in the mountains, I love the brisk air, I love whooshing down the mountain. In my mind, happiness is a season pass to Santa Fe Ski Area. LOVE LOVE LOVE SKIING.

3. Camp. I went to Hummingbird Music Camp as a kid- started going in 5th grade, and kept going until I finished my second summer as a Head Counselor and then headed off to college. Hummingbird is a dinky little camp in the middle of the Jemez Mountains, and it is just a magical place. Kids play horrible music but learn a lot, do lots of hiking, have a dance, go to waterfalls, sleep out under the stars. I think every kid should go to camp at least once, if not every summer.

4. My 8th Grade Girlfriends. Middle school got off to a rough start for me. My lifelong best friend ended up with the “in” crowd and I was left sort of on the fringe. It was strange and uncomfortable. By the next year, a fantastic group of gals had bonded. We had poets, painters, dancers, singers, athletes, brainiacs… Each girl was incredibly unique but we all meshed really well. It was nice to have such a fantastic group of friends who really, honestly didn’t give a crap what the “cool kids” were doing because we were having so much fun on our own.

5. Active Involvement in the Arts. As a kid, I took lessons for: theater, improvisation, piano, flute, voice, watercolor painting, ballet, jazz… I went to my first chamber music concert at less than one year old, my first opera by age 8. We frequently went to gallery openings, concerts, art exhibits, and I practically grew up in the workshops at the Museum of International Folk Art. I miss having such a close connection to the arts. I miss being in plays, singing, painting. I miss going to galleries, plays, concerts. It’s a part of who I am that has been neglected for a while!!!