We welcome author, Rebekah Lyn to Speak Out Saturday. Rebekah has published her debut novel, Summer Storms and is almost ready to release Julianne, a novel set in coastal North Carolina. Rebekah has her own blog, Rebekah Lyn’s Kitchen but since she was busy editing and needed to rant we offered Speak Up Saturday as a quick vent. A link to her blog is in the sidebar. So, Rebekah, rant away.
Driving around this weekend, I saw a bounce house in a backyard, presumably for a child’s birthday party. It made me think about how things have changed since I was a kid. Growing up, we had birthday parties at Burger King or McDonald’s. I remember wearing a paper crown and sitting in a booth with my friends. Those were great parties.
As I continued driving in my nostalgic state, I noticed many of the houses had plastic play sets in place of the metal swing-sets I grew up with. These play sets are fine I guess, but I feel bad for the kids who don’t have the chance to ride the glider, one kid on each side, pretending it was a horse. I learned not to let my bare legs touch the slide after the first time I burned them on the metal that had been baking in the sun all day.
Sure some of the kids I grew up with had big wooden tree houses or forts, and I only had the rickety old metal swing set, but I had monkey bars, a slide, and swings. I could climb up the support poles and make my way across the whole set without touching the ground. I wasn’t scarred for life because some of my friends had nicer things than me. I learned life isn’t fair, but it is what you make of it. I’m glad I grew up in the time I did; I had the chance to learn from my mistakes.
