CLIMBING

One of the past times we enjoyed as children was climbing. From the time we were little tots, it seemed, we were climbing on jungle gyms, then trees, and finally houses and barns.

There was one particular tree in the yard next door that was split a little at the bottom so it was easy to get a good foot hold for starting up. I remember climbing really high in that tree and looking around at all the houses on our street. At that time in my life I had no fear of heights and I loved being up there.

Then someone began to build a two story house on the corner and we quickly learned that if we waited until all the workman were gone, we could enjoy a new climbing adventure by hoisting each other up on the beams. We scampered all over that building until Mother found out and forbade our going there anymore. Why we didn’t fall and break something, I don’t know.

Even worse than that, though, was when we discovered the joy of ascending first the stairs and then the ladder of the Frists' three storied barn and playing on that roof. The Frist property ran all behind the houses across the street for almost a whole block, kind of a mini farm in the middle of the city. We were able to get away with this venture until one of the neighbors across the street told Mother and of course, that was the end of that.

Mother never found out about the other roof climbing we did. We were all teenagers by then and into sun bathing like the rest of our generation. We had a small almost flat spot over some windows upstairs that had been added when we expanded our house. To get to it we had to climb out the window onto the very steep part of the roof, carefully walk up the slant, and step up to the flat place. And there we were able to lie in the sun topless!! What a risque scheme that was for us girls of the fifties. However, even that activity had to cease when pilots spotted us and began buzzing the house. When that had occurred several times, we had to quit going topless, and that was the main reason we were up there in the first place.

I don’t remember when I became afraid of high places or why (probably when the planes started flying low and we were scrambling around up there on that little flat area), but I’m happy to say now that the fear of heights has mostly gone.

But I don’t think I’ll be doing much tree or roof climbing.