X Marks the Spot!

Rascally pirates, old creaky ships, gleaming swords, and buried treasure . . . these are the things adventures are made of!  I remember when I was young I was fascinated with stories of pirates and their many adventures.  During the summer, my little brother and I would have sword fights with sticks across the back yard.  We would dig in our sandbox searching for buried treasures left by those pirates who came before us.  And we would bury our own little treasures, leaving only an ‘X’ behind to mark our secret hiding places.  Those were some of the best summers of my life!

Now that I am an adult and a mother of two, I love to sit back and watch my son and daughter have pirate adventures of their own.  Since I dressed up as a pirate maiden to hand out candy two Halloweens ago, my kids have been in full pirate mode.  For the past couple years, I have endured plenty of pirate dialogue:

Son: “ARGH!  Let’s go find us some buried treasure.”
Daughter:  “Yes, ARGH!”
Son:  “Do you have your sword, matey?”
Daughter:  “ARGH, yes, I do!”
Son:  “Off we go!  AAAAAAAARGH!”
Daughter:  “ARGH, let’s go eat with our knives!”

I have also had to contend with more X’s than a teenage girl’s notebook!  X’s drawn on paper.  X’s constructed with blocks.  X’s made of string.  X’s scribbled on everything.  It’s enough to make anyone go batty!

Most of the time, though, I just smile and remember my own pirate antics.  I miss the days when summer clouds became ships sailing off to distance lands.  I long for the time when I only needed a stick and a handful of pebbles to be happy and carefree, off on the adventure of a lifetime.  The world and its endless possibilities were within my grasp right in my own backyard.  Those were the best days to be alive!