Riding Grandma and Grandpa’s golf cart is one of the highlights of visiting. I much preferred it when the kids were young and my dad chauffeured them around but now they’re getting older and they want to (gulp), drive. I’d have no problem with them taking the wheel if they weren’t brain damaged (almost) teenagers but we all know children of a certain age are lacking in mental faculties like rational thinking.
Magical mornings on “The Close”
Never mind it’s also illegal.
The morning after our cousins Connor and Jaxson arrived, all the kids were up waking up terrorizing the neighborhood in the golf cart. It brought back awesome memories…not of traumatizing the block but of just how incredible it was to grow up here. I reminisced with my childhood friends about it on Facebook and my friend Stacey B. nailed it perfectly:
We had everything – an alley, crabapple trees, the gully, the golf course, neighbours that we loved and could trust – remember our block parties? Whole neighbourhood gathering for a BBQ. On the Close, we were more than just neighbours – we were truly family!
“The Close” is much different now. My parents are the only original owners. Most have moved or passed away, the population aging and the sounds of children’s laughter have dimmed except for the occasional visit of grandchildren. Stacey agreed.
I would love to go and knock on each door and explain to them how it once was! Tell them to gather their grandchildren and make it like it used to be! We truly couldn’t have had better childhoods – we could roam free all throughout our area – we knew we would be safe because somebody was always watching ot for us! Even when we were being “bad” – that just meant we were eating the crabapples off of somebody else’s tree! LOL
Ahh, the good ‘ol days!!!!
At one point, I looked out the window and saw 11-year-old Connor driving the golf court with three babes on the back, two of whom are not related to us.
I guess they start early in my brother’s family.
“Who on earth are they?” I queried and found out the kids had met them when walking the dogs. Ella is Hadley’s age and her sister is Bode’s age, which made them all instant BFFs because there’s no one else around.
At one point, I looked at Connor flipping doughnuts on the huge lawn area in front of the house. Bode had just come out of the shower and I expressed my concerns to him.
“I don’t mind you kids riding the golf cart but I get really nervous when he makes fast, sharp turns like that. It would be all too easy to flip the cart.”
“Do you want me to keep an eye on them, Mom?”
“Why don’t you do that, Son.”
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 