I have a whole list of special things I experienced as a youngster roaming these parts back in the day. I truly wish I could go back and relive some of those things before I cash in my chips. The reality is, very little of the things, places or people from my early life are still around. It just wouldn’t be possible.
Oh how I wish I could recreate a family Christmas gathering for my great grandkids like we always had when I was their age. I’m not sure the gift giving would live up to their expectations but you just never know. These kids might like to participate in that annual Christmas touch football game we always had in the back lot. Somehow it always seemed to end up as a game of tackle. No matter the age, boys will be boys.
While sitting in a deer blind with my grandson I tried to make it more about enjoying nature and less about shooting anything. The daily game we watched play out over and over between two foxes and the old jackrabbit never grew old. As the jackrabbit was parked under the deer feeder the fox split up and came in from opposite directions. The sly cunning fox was never able to overcome that last split second reaction and speed of the rabbit. I don’t know the life expectancy of a jackrabbit but if I were to bet I would say that rabbit most likely died of old age.
In our modern hi tech world would young people even be interested in leaving their iPhone or hand held computer devices at home and venturing off into the countryside? It is hard to judge since the opportunity to do such things is no longer available to many. Among the many gifts from God that I enjoyed as a kid I rank that one way up on the chart. I can’t even imagine what my life would have been like without the years I spent along the banks of the Medina River.
From riding the rapids below the Mayan Bridge all the way to Dripping Springs to fishing in the water below the dam there was always an adventure to be found. It was the best out of classroom education available and I never lost interest. Fresh cut bamboo cane poles or a used inner tube sporting an untold number of patches were simple solutions for boredom. We didn’t have or need a tube rental place because every family always had a few on hand. Anyone who owned a bike had tube repair patches on hand along with a hand pump to do some inflating. If a big group float was planned we loaded tubes in the back of our old truck and headed to Henry Lloyd’s Sinclair station for some free air.
My best Growing Up In Bandera adventures these days are spent with my family as we take our youngest on rides in a golf cart retracing some of the paths I once traveled. The experience is quite different for them trying to understand the things this old man rambles on about as I envision my earlier life as a kid in Bandera.
