Looking back on a childhood so long ago

I think back to my neighborhood where I did roam

A group of friends we were all the same age

We were a group of eight young boys

Times were much simpler back then

There were no cellphones or digital cameras that tracked our lives

No exciting video games and only 4 or 5 channels on the boob tube

Our neighborhood was our play land

 Playing games like football in the mud and flashlight tag at night

Buying fireworks through the mail and the good kinds to boot

So many things we did, we were limited by our imagination alone

Running through the yards late into the night

Playing games like fake fight

Swimming in an old Recycle Pond

Going sledding in the dark well past one

It seemed those days would never end

But time has a way to change even those so close

High School came and we moved apart

Moving different places

Becoming parts of different groups

I miss those days, I miss those friends

But those memories are something I hold close

Oh those years ago when life was simple and friends were everything

I still talk to a few of my old mates

Some I haven’t seen since we officially became men

Now we all have families and such

But a bond built over those many summers and winters long ago

A life so simple but so yet so full of fun

Picture Credit: My Middle School Yearbook