The Games We Play
Do you remember the games you made up as a child? The kind that only made sense to you and your friends? I was reminded of one this weekend, while visiting my mother over Labor Day weekend.
I was walking down the street along the route from my grade school to my parents' home. As I was stepping along the sidewalk I found myself deliberately stepping around certain sidewalk squares with an imprint of the manufacturer upon them. It was then that I realized what I was doing:
I was playing a childhood game.
I laughed so hard when it came back to me. The rules are as follows: a sidewalk has so many sections on it. Each one is a square of concrete. Occasionally you'd come upon one with a circle imprint. If you weren't paying attention and stepped on one, you had to run and touch a tree before your friend tagged you. If you both step on it, the first one to the tree is in the clear. It was a simple game and there really isn't any point to it, except to make the walk to and from school interesting.
What I found amusing was that here I was, two decades later, habitually playing the game. It had become so ingrained into who I am that it was an unconscious effort. I couldn't help but walk around them. And I liked that I did.