The Backyard

It has been a long time since I have been able to enjoy a backyard…...

Growing up, I was lucky enough to live in the same house in HB for the first 18 years of my life. When I was 4 or 5, although we lived a ½ mile from the ocean, my parents put in a pool. I spent so many summers swimming around watching my hair turn green. I use to pretend our little Jacuzzi attached to the pool was my own personal swim area. As I got older, we made up the craziest, funnest games to play. I can remember boys jumping from our roof into the pool. Something I never did, but witnessed many times. We always had end of the school year parties and end of the season sports parties. We had a HUGE light in the back that would light up our entire cul-de-sac and then the next morning we would find hundreds of June bugs dead in the water. Gross I know, but they just meant we spent the night swimming under the moon with great company.

My backyard had a little playhouse nestled in the corner that my dad and grandpa built. It had little pavers walking up to it, a door with a lock and cute little windows. When my mom would make curtains for our house, she would use the scraps to make curtains for the playhouse. And when pieces of furniture got too old or dingy for our house, they were moved to the playhouse. We loved re-decorating that playhouse. We didn’t too much care for the bugs that found their way inside, but overall it was a great place to run and play.

Every summer we had a great big garden with string beans, cherry tomatoes, squash, zucchini, corn on the cob, you name it. I spent so many hours sitting on the brick retaining wall picking weeds, and I’m sure a few occasional plants, and watering that garden. On the opposite side of the yard we had a huge area with raspberry bushes. We loved picking them and putting them straight in the pool to “wash them” off and right into our mouths. These raspberries made the best jam, malts and ice cream toppings.

My backyard was where the opossums fell into the trashcans, where we sat on lawn chairs and played cards on summer nights, where we took pictures before high school dances, where we would rinse off all the sand after being at the beach. It is full of so many memories. I am so grateful for those memories.

I didn’t realize how grateful I was for that backyard until now—10 years later. Since I left for college at 17, now 10 years later, this is the first time I have had the chance to enjoy a backyard. Between college dorms and apartments, married campus housing, basements and so forth, I have not had a backyard of my own to enjoy. Granted, our house in Utah did have a great big yard, there was just nothing fencing it in. That kinda defeats the purpose if you ask me.

Now finally, we have our backyard! And only recently have I learned how important it is for a little child to have a backyard so he can start having those memories about this house that I have of my first house. It is Dax’s favorite place to play. We spend at least an hour out there each afternoon. There’s nothing fancy about it. Grass, a sand box, his playhouse, some planters, and a little baby orange tree, but this is completely Dax’s territory. He has the freedom to throw, to run, to kick, to jump, anything he wants. The baby pool from last summer has been replaced by the 8 foot slip ‘n slide this summer. And maybe next summer that will be replaced by the blow up water slide at Costco. The activities in the backyard will keep changing as the kids keep growing. Whatever they are, I am so happy that we have a backyard. Dax may not remember the fun he had these first few years, but I know I will always remember how much I loved watching him play in the backyard.