|
Childhood
Memories Came Back
When I Bought
A Slingshot for My Son
It’s amazing how
memories can come rushing back to your mind when
you smell a certain smell, feel a certain item
or see a childhood toy that you haven’t thought
about in 30 years.
My family was dirt
poor. A lot of people use that phrase and
exaggerate. Believe me, we were dirt poor in
the most extreme meaning of the phrase.
That meant Christmas was
different in our house than in normal homes. We
had nine children and there was no money for
Christmas gifts. I was the seventh of nine. My
dad had been devastated by the Great Depression
and never recovered. He was just scratching by
with a lowly Government job and the bills piled
up while we often went hungry.
We relied on various
charitable and governmental aids for food,
clothing and other needs, and Christmas was no
different. From my earliest days I remember
being taught to write my “wish list” letter to
something called The Christ Child, rather than
Santa Claus, like most kids did. We never
really compared our list with our actual gifts,
however, because there was no way the charitable
organization could come up with precisely what
each child would like.
Yes, Santa Claus was
still in our lives, and it was a strange and
complicated story that our parents and older
brothers and sisters (who now knew better) had
to concoct to keep the thrill of Santa alive,
along with the promise of gifts from The Christ
Child.
Anyway, one gift item
that I remember putting on my list for about
three straight years was a sling shot, a good
one that worked. I kept trying to forge one
together with a forked stick and strong rubber
band, but they never quite worked. But I guess
no one ever donated a sling shot, new or used,
to the Christ Child.
I mention new or used
because that was the deal with this charity.
They apparently asked donors for new or
“slightly used” toys and other gifts to give out
to their charity cases. So I would have even
been happy with a good used sling shot. It
never happened. Eventually, I grew out of the
“sling shot age” and went on to other gifts that
I wanted….but never got.
I mention this because I
came across a beautiful, brand new sling shot at
www.yoursecurityandsafety.com/slingshot.htm,
and it all came back to me.
I have a 12-year-old
son; he has never asked for a sling shot, but I
just felt as though he would really enjoy it
once he had one and used it in the backyard to
knock down tin cans from their perch on a
fence. And I knew that it would be worth $9.95
for me to watch him enjoy using an item that was
never quite within reach for me at his age.
My son is very
responsible, but I am going to teach him to show
the proper respect for the slingshot, and stress
all of the rules of safety, of course. He will
only be allowed to use it in our spacious
backyard, with no neighbors for miles around,
and only under supervision. And he is never to
aim it at anyone – unless, of course, that
person means harm to him or anyone else. In
that case, he will be able to take advantage of
the power of the sling shot and the 100-yard
range it boasts.
As for me, it feels as though I finally received
that Christmas present from The Christ Child. |
