Backward turn backward...

By Lori Schuster

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Backward turn backward...
01.22.07 (6:43 pm)   [edit]
To a child, the world is an open book. There are not chapters, pages, or periods. They take on the world one footstep—one sidewalk crack at a time.

Don’t you miss the random frivolity of childhood where each day was an adventure of your own making?

When we were little, my sister and I would put on tulle petticoats and frilly t-shirts and dance around the basement to my dad’s 8-track tape of Bizet’s Carmen. We would gallop around like we were on horses and occasionally stop to kiss a handsome soldier (a tall metal pole). It never occurred to us that we might look a bit odd. How else were a 6 and 8 year old from East Toledo going to kiss a handsome Spanish soldier?

Our imaginations made life magical and gave us that perpetual window of mystery and hope for what might be possible in the future.

My grandmother’s farm was a fertile breeding ground for our wild imaginations. The girls’ bedroom had a dressing table with a blue tulle skirt around it and beautiful chenille bedspreads. There were huge old trees out the front window and in my mind it was a Southern Plantation… despite its location in Blissfield, Michigan. The “red room” had a vent that looked straight down into the living room, allowing us to listen in on conversations. This was a vital location when playing spies. Unfortunately, it was also the ‘ghost room’ and we didn’t go in there…unless we were in a group. To this day, we all recall that room having a dark and ominous feeling about it.

In my grandma’s basement there were two barrels filled with clothes, umbrellas and shoes from the late 1800s. It was the kind of attire that all properly bred Southern Belles from Michigan wore on the tire swing or to play Monopoly.

I was a weird little girl. We played Lost in Space, the Partridge Family, pioneers, and had a band that played the Beatles, Neil Diamond and Carole King. I spent hours and hours creating a happy life for Barbie and her friends. I thought the fact that I was good at Monopoly assured me of a rich financial future. I wrote letters to Bobby Sherman.

I liked to walk through the “dark” woods along the river and imagine how it looked when the Indians lived there. I had a Gilbert Chemistry set and pretended I was Madame Curie and a daddy longlegs spider that I kept in a powder compact and took out for walks… replacing him (or her) as necessary—that is until I read Charlotte’s web.

I was never bored and rarely without an adventure.

As adults we have given up the concept of life being an open book. We tend only to see the period at the end of the sentence.

When we had our Moving party in Goshen, I made everyone dress up from the decade in which they were in high school. Not only was it hysterical to see all of my normally staid and respectable friends in leisure suits and funky hair styles…but, I felt thirty years younger.

I think that left to my own devices, I would spit in the face of decorum. I would swim in the sea of my quirkiness, wear Edwardian evening gowns to dinner and spend a day speaking nothing but French. I would change my haircolor with the seasons and my mind as I saw fit.

Certainly, as an adult, some restraint is necessary. But wouldn’t it be nice if every once in a while we read past the period and drank a mint julep on the veranda of our plantation or galloped off into the sunset into the arms of a handsome Spanish soldier.

Backward, turn backward, Oh Time! in your flight
Make me a child again--just for tonight!
--author unknown
 

posted by: Cutter (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (3:50 pm)

I think that this is why "Role Playing" caught on to such an extent.

There are many people who (secretly or not) desire to time travel, or freeze time.

I think that it's also one of the reasons why "Halloween" is so popular. ;)


posted by: mimi (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (4:14 pm)

I know that I was one of three, standing on the stairs of our basement, singing "going to the chapel apple, gonna get ma..a.a.arried!" in what ever "get up" we could concoct! making homes(floor plans) in the woods next to our houses, out of pine needles and i dreamt of riding "Tony the Pony" all around town! excellent post!
xoxo


posted by: lorischuster (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (4:31 pm)

Reply to: Cutter
I think you're right...on all counts. I would love to time travel...I think that's why I like Williamsburg so much and I love Halloween even more now than I did when I was a kid. Nice to hear from you Cutter.



posted by: lorischuster (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (4:34 pm)

Reply to: mimi
Wasn't it so much fun? I think that kids now don't get to use their imaginations as often...to many electronic things to keep them occupied. What a shame. I can see you singing it Mimi...
Speaking of singing, I heard Rod Stewart today and IMMEDIATELY though of you. It was Reason to Believe...love that song. :)


posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (7:51 pm)

"I think that left to my own devices, I would spit in the face of decorum. I would swim in the sea of my quirkiness, wear Edwardian evening gowns to dinner and spend a day speaking nothing but French. I would change my haircolor with the seasons and my mind as I saw fit."

It's just a decision, isn't it?


posted by: FinalyFree (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (8:09 pm)

Ah, spitting in the face of decorum--me too sister, me too!

I think the freedom to be an open book is the main thing I miss about childhood. And kudos to the party dress-code. I'd love to try this for a Halloween party or something :)


posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (8:41 pm)

I do think that some of us still do just enough dreaming to keep those around us from being comfortable in our presence. They accuse us of "having our heads in the clouds" or "being in dreamland". Nothing wrong with that. I do like many of the trinkets of this world, but it just always seems to me there is a better place out there, somewhere, and maybe just around the corner.

I envy children, because they are encouraged to dream. Or, should be.


posted by: goldie (reply)
post date: 01.22.07 (8:57 pm)

Ah Lori, another wonderful post! when i was 15 i appropriated John Lennon and wrote "life is what happens to you while you're busy dreaming". i guess ive stuck by that. my hair and attitude change with the weather. i dont ever want to be tied down to a life where i am flatlined by affect regulation. if i feel like dancing, i dance. as i get older though, i am noticing the value of having children around me. ive always been a huge fan of Peter Pan and Wendy. trying to connect with kids, or the child in adults, gives me some time with the lost boys in Neverland. i am sure that we all need it occasionally... not just for escapism, but to reconnect with our imagination and wonderment.
thanks so much for this post.. u said a lot of what ive been thinking.
xxg.g.


posted by: lorischuster (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (4:23 am)

Reply to: surrogate
I have to say that nobody that knows me would be in the least bit surprised to see me come to dinner in an Edwardian Evening Gown. I'm not sure much would surprise them any more and that is the way I like it. You are right it is just a decision--one I think we feel more comfortable with the older we get.



posted by: lorischuster (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (4:31 am)

Reply to: FinalyFree
I want to be reliable but predictably unpredictable. It really was very funny because we had all ages there so every decade was represented. The IPOD mix was crucial. :)



posted by: lorischuster (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (4:38 am)

Reply to: goldie
"...not just for escapism, but to reconnect with our imagination and wonderment".
You are exactly right...wonderment is often what is lacking. Great word Goldie. If you don't take advantage of the magic of the moment--a snowfall, a beautiful song--whatever it might be, then life just starts eating you up and days blur together. I think that jaded is the opposite of wonderment and it's just easier to be skeptical than amazed. Keep dreaming girl. (I always loved Peter Pan and Wendy too).



posted by: lorischuster (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (4:46 am)

Reply to: PastorDave
I love that...about people being uncomfortable in our presence. It is probably especially difficult for a Pastor as you are under such scrutiny--and everyone has such a rigid view of what is acceptable for a Christian. You are so right that dreaming as an adult is defintely seen as a character flaw. I'm not buying it. On my nightstand I have French language books, stories of Paris, and a magazine filled with houses for sale or rent. I may never get there...but it certainly is a lovely thing to occupy my thoughts.


posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (4:56 am)

Reply to: lorischuster
Yeah, you're right. It is easier as we get older. There definitely is a point at which surprising the people that know us become impossible. The down-side is that from that point on, they spend much of the time trying to decide whether and where to have us committed.

As for me? I say it's worth it.

Could you help me with my (strait)jacket?



posted by: judypatooote (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (5:04 am)

You forgot to mention the bride and bridesmaid dresses grandma made for you and your sister, out of my wedding dress....we lived on Plymouth street, and would wear those dresses every single day, until they had black raggy bottoms, and i finally through them away.....you both were in tears, but you did get months of wear and fun out of them......and don't forget the Sweeney sister....hehe


posted by: doeeyed (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (3:03 pm)

Lori, wow I just took a walk down memory lane :) climbed a tree, played house in my cousin's playhouse, took a bike ride with my doll in the basket, laid on the hill and found pictures in the clouds, climbed under my Dad's boat that was propped against the garage and kissed Kevin Pain for 7 seconds...

Thanks :)


posted by: thecyberwriter (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (4:48 pm)

That was nice little stroll down memory lane! :-)


posted by: FinalyFree (reply)
post date: 01.23.07 (7:14 pm)

Reply to: lorischuster
No lie, I conjured up the ensemble that would have been me circa 1983! Check out my latest post ;)



posted by: bawdy (reply)
post date: 01.24.07 (10:45 am)

What a coincidence..I just happened to be wearing an Edwardian evening gown as I read this! You have such a terrific way with words, Lori.


posted by: LadyG (reply)
post date: 01.24.07 (9:51 pm)

Excellent post as usuasl , started me to going down memory lane.


posted by: ottomanprang (reply)
post date: 01.26.07 (11:21 am)

Well done, brings back memories, we used to play Star Trek (our front porch was the bridge of the Enterprise and then pretend we were members of our favorite football team. We would get in my best friend's dad's junk Studebaker and drive to say, Dallas and get out of the car to kick the winning field goal jump back in the car and go to Baltimore and repeat the same scenario, of course we always won, even when we missed the field goal...


posted by: Paige (reply)
post date: 01.26.07 (3:10 pm)

Great post. I love the part about kissing the soldier (post).

Happy Weekend


posted by: apyjo (reply)
post date: 01.27.07 (9:05 am)

I so loved reading as a young girl and teen--
Mysteries, women's biographies and sci-fi/fantasy .

Plus all the museums I got to visit
as we traveled all over the world.
Memory Lane is a sometimes cool address...


posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 01.28.07 (7:27 pm)

Reply to: bawdy

You look hot!



posted by: swanktrendz (reply)
post date: 02.03.07 (2:25 pm)

of Bizet’s Carmen and tire swings... ahhh Lori, you summed up my childhood as well. Growing up on 21 acres of land (and only 2 channels on tv) we had tire swings, rope swings, go carts, forst, etc. As well, my mother had a passion for Carmen and Saint Saens - every Sunday was music day and I still recall her explaining the stories as the music played on. I think I will call and thank her.


posted by: swanktrendz (reply)
post date: 02.03.07 (2:27 pm)

Reply to: mimi - wow Mimi - you reminded me that my cousin and I would make elaborate pine needle and pinecone houses. (The pinecones were the outside perimeter). Thanks for the memory


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Nov. 16, 1987-March 1, 2005