Do you hibernate…totally withdraw,
Curl-up by the fire and read a good book?
In desperation…call your friends on the phone,
Say, “Let’s go to the Mall…for a look”?

But, what can you do miles from nowhere,
Your friends all live far away;
And, the Mall…there isn’t one,
Nothing to do…except at home to stay?

When I was a young girl,
Innovative…we had to be;
We’d walk to the nearest farm house,
Then, into our imagination…we’d flee!

Some days we would drag out old clothes,
Hats, belts, and those funny high heels;
We’d play ‘dress-up’ with all of those things,
A part of the past…we would steal.

Then, each of us would reserve,
A space that we called ‘our home’;
We’d knock on the door of our friend’s house,
We’d ‘visit’…and not be alone.

If we were very lucky,
The Mom of the house would bring;
A tray laden with cookies and cakes,
And, other delights…to our liking.

We’d host impromptu weddings,
Dressed in our finest array;
We’d even march down the aisle,
Ah, the things we did…in play!

Then, of course, we had children,
A small sister or brother would do;
Or we could dress-up a doll,
Sometimes we’d dress-up a cat or two.

Now, kitty was usually willing,
To lie there on its back;
Snug…in our doll carriage,
Baby blankets…around kitty were stacked.

Maybe it’s just that kitty,
Was tied-down…with no place to go;
Kitty would tolerate us,
She could have been bored too…you know!

Sometimes we’d play church…dress in our Sunday best,
And, one of us would get up and preach;
We’d sing songs of praise…in our childish way,
But, we’d be silent…when ‘pastor’ did speak.

We never ran out of ideas,
Of things we could do…and play;
Sometimes it seemed we looked forward,
To those dark and rainy days.

But now, things are all different,
We need to be entertained;
Original ideas…we don’t have them,
Let’s go back to simpler times…and the things we did when it rained!

********

August 25, 2003

Aimee Love
(LHG)