This Old, Redbrick House

This house, in Wichita, Kansas, is where I grew up through most of my younger years. A while ago I was in Wichita to make a presentation and I visited our old neighborhood, and also took a drive down to Winfield, Kansas to check out where my parents and grandparents had lived. 

I cannot tell you how much fun I remember we had growing up in this house. My mom was going to school to get her master's degree in special education at Wichita University (before it became Wichita State), and my dad was beginning his career in the Wichita public school system. We played kick-the-can in the evening until my mom rang the cowbell to call us all home. Our back yard caught on fire and nearly put our house in danger of burning (at least my memory tells it so...). There was a huge inner tube - I think it was just a big, big tire tube, nothing frilly like these days - that we jumped and jumped on.

And on and on.

This picture, which I took maybe 15 years ago, about a time maybe 50 or 60 years ago, isn't the best, but it represents some of my best times.

This isn't a classic haiku - it doesn't refer to the seasons or nature - but it does represent a cherished season of my life.