As I listened to my little monkeys laughing so hard and using their imaginations, it took me back to Sunday afternoons for me as a child. My dad was a pilot in the military. I call him Papa. We moved around frequently with his job. One place we were stationed was Germany. There, we lived on the German economy (that means off base). We lived in a little German village. Our landlord was German, our neighbors were German, the local shops surrounding us... ALL GERMAN. Our landlord even owned A GERMAN shepherd (named Dina that chased me once, but that is a funny story for another time... I'm getting off track, where was I? Oh, yes, no friends in Germany.) This was a wonderful experience for us to be a part of. However, when it came time for the weekend or summer vacation... all we had were each other. I am the oldest of four children. I have three younger brothers: The Pilot (3 yrs younger), Mr. Fun Time (4 1/2 yrs younger), and Yenni (7 yrs younger). We had one channel to watch on TV...(which cut off after a certain time and nothing good was ever on) and a backyard with a cherry tree we could climb, one single metal swing, and the tramp (trampoline). We had to use our imagination. We were sent outside to play for hours it seemed to get out from under my mom's nose and we would come up with all sorts of fun games to play. Sunday's were the funnest. Because we were suppose to be having quiet time and resting... but like my children, we would laugh and crack up and do all sorts of silly games while we were suppose to be "resting". Here are a few:
1. The Hidden Ball
We would put our feet inside our pillowcases (with the pillow still in it) and pretend like they were hockey pads, and shove couch pillows up our shirts. We weren't allowed to play with "balls" inside the house, so we would find things we could wad up to make balls and chuck them across the room. When the players on the other side of the room found it, we would them have to hide it in various places (ie: behind our knee) while the other team tackled you in search for THE HIDDEN BALL. It was lots of fun. It usually got out of hand, but until then, it was always fun!
2. Salarina
Mr. Fun Time has always been the comedian of the family (though we all like to think we can make others laugh). We thrive on making each other's sides hurt or gag from laughing too hard. It's what makes our family "tick". The Pilot and I always took advantage of this opportunity with Mr. Fun Time. We would find baby blankets and old dresses and shoes and dress him up like a little lady, and call him Salarina. We would make him talk like a little girl and prance around with a wrist cocked all while rolling on the floor from laughter. We only got to do this one a few times before he refused to do it anymore... To this day he still denies he ever did it.
4. Hard Hat Heidi
We took many vacations while we were in Germany. The place we went most was Holland. On our trips my mom would buy little games for us to play in the car. One was a memory game with different characters you had to match up. One of the characters was Hard Hat Heidi. My brother's thought the picture was hilarious so I was then on named Hard Hat Heidi. We would play tag (where i was always "it") and i chased them around endlessly while they yelled, "oh no! hard hat heidi is going to get us!!" The game never really stopped, ofcourse- because i was always "it", and we would pick up the game each time we wanted to play tag. This game continued on for YEARS.
When I think back to these times, it truly warms my heart. Playing with my brothers are one of my fondest memories of growing up. Sitting around the dinner table when we are together and talking about the past after a meal is THE BEST!
I love you Mom, Papa, The Pilot, Mr. Fun Time, & Yenni
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