Summer Sky Over the Prairie
One of my favorite events of summer is the return of relatives who’ve long ago moved away from Oklahoma and come back to visit. It’s better than holiday visits; summer visits are more relaxed and spent outdoors.
This week, a family that moved to metropolitan Southern California more than 20 years ago came “home.” They spent their three-week summer vacation with both his and her families in the southeastern corner of the state. But this weekend, they came to visit at my uncle’s house down the road a mile. They have three children – a 19-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old. They came this particular day because it was the 14-year-old girl’s birthday and she asked to spend it fishing at my uncle’s pond.
And so this California family spent the day fishing. The two younger children also spent a lot of time, between pulling in perch and bass, running up to the top of the hill in the pasture where the cattle were grazing. They’d wave from the top of the hill and then we’d look up and they’d be nowhere to be seen. The 10-year-old boy also spent a good hour playing in the empty corral at the barn, mostly by himself.
My uncle, reflecting on their visit a few days later, was struck by how much fun these young people had fishing, running in the pastures. He marveled how they entertained themselves with only the outdoors as their playthings – merely with a romp in nature.
