Musings

Reflections on life lived by a coast

  • Home
  • Travel
  • Yoga
You are here: Home / Archives for childhood musings

Blue Sky Dreaming

July 3, 2013 •

As a child, I spent long lazy sum­mer after­noons lying on my back, gaz­ing at the sky. I loved to watch the rivers of puffy clouds stream over­head, sail­ing across a vast ocean of deep blue. Child­hood sum­mers offered lots of time for sky gaz­ing and day­dream­ing.

My friends and I enjoyed an unstruc­tured child­hood. Our days weren’t crammed full of self-improv­ing activ­i­ties like gym­nas­tics or bal­let classes. Our moth­ers weren’t soc­cer Moms shuf­fling us from one place or event to the next… So we had lots of time to lie on our backs, gaze at the skies, day­dream, tell tall tales, or imag­ine our­selves as the hero of our own fan­tasy adven­tures.

We played games, rode bikes, walked fence rails, formed cliques (and broke them just as quickly). On rainy days we read books or the lat­est comic books. On sunny days we wan­dered the neigh­bor­hood, explored the nearby woods, snacked on fresh berries or fruits we “bor­rowed” from a neigh­bor’s tree. We had the lux­ury (or chal­lenge) of long hours with min­i­mal adult super­vi­sion. We were largely respon­si­ble for cre­at­ing our own forms of amuse­ment. We returned home in time for meals, or before dark on days when school was out.

We were the pre-dig­i­tal, pre-Sesame Street gen­er­a­tion. TV view­ing was rationed, to leave enough time to do home­work with­out caus­ing World War III to break out between us and our par­ents. There were no videogames or tex­ting vol­leys to dis­tract our atten­tion.

Now that we’re adults, sur­rounded by dig­i­tal devices and bar­raged by incom­ing texts, emails and tweets — com­mit­ted to overly busy sched­ules and work/life oblig­a­tions — those lazy blue-sky after­noons are far behind us.

Some­thing has been lost in the process…

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

Recent Posts

  • Wet Sand, Wet Boots, Birds
  • Living with Vintage Items
  • Slowing Down
  • Reflections on My Camino
  • Going Off the Beaten Track in France

© 2020 by Christine Thompson. All rights reserved. • Log in