Previous Entry | Top
Menu | Next Entry
Home
By Jamie Treinen
Home,
Chadron, Nebraska
In summer the children race their colorful bicycles
and worn out roller skates down the big hill
to decide the winner of the day.
They play a game of tag or run through
the lawn sprinklers getting relieved from the hazy
dry sun.
The parents gather outside their modest houses
with their baggy shorts sipping lemonade or iced
tea relaxing
after a long hard days work, never hesitating
to greet a neighbor happening to pass by
and they all dream of having the energy of their
kids.
This is home.
In winter the boys throw snowballs at the girls
who hide behind their sculpted snowmen.
They don't have to knock on each others' door
to know if they can play they simply understand
that when the first flake sticks to the frozen blades
of grass that its time to
engage in their winter activities.
They walk along the packed snowdrifts
over the tall wooden fences,
which in the warmer months are unscalable,
to see whose yard has the accumulated the most snow.
They build igloos and ice forts
which only those with the agility to bear the numbness
of their digging hands
or climb the frozen trees can withstand.
This is home.
What constructive and imaginative children I see
living near my home.
The mothers and fathers take different views
for they have to bundle their children up
with scarves, goulashes, mittens, and boots,
they have to drive backwards up the hill to make
it to work or church
or the small town grocery store to buy oatmeal and
hot chocolate.
Again they envy the children who can withstand the
blistering cold,
which burns your nose, lips, and ears
as the wind whips through your packed wool and cotton
jackets,
the slippery, icy sidewalks that the children slide
on
and seem to never be concerned about loosing their
balance or falling.
This is my home.
I love the children with their courage, competitiveness,
and playful ability.
I love the parents with their strong family values
and concern for the well-being of their neighbors
as they carpool, baby-sit, and hold weekly block
meetings.
My home will always be this way.
Those children will grow up and retain those values
and hold those meetings and go to that church and
shop at that store.
Their children will play those games,
build those forts, and climb those frozen trees.
The summers will invite the races and water sprinklers
and the winters will excite the children who welcome
those crystal flakes of snow.
This is my home.