In the golden days of my childhood, the whole city park was my backyard! Growing up on Stadtpark Straße 23 was the best place possible to live. After getting home in the early afternoon from the tiresome place where I was supposed to get an education, Tante Schlee would fix me a delicious warm lunch.
After lunch, I changed out of my sweaty lederhosen shorts, and into my play clothes for an action-packed afternoon with my friends playing soccer, cowboys and Indians, running around inventing new games, and letting sweet time slip away thru pure enjoyment in the free outdoors. Looking down from our balcony, I could see if anyone I knew was already out and about.
When I was too small to go alone, Tante Schlee would accompany me and watch out. It was our custom for me to ask if she had Band-Aids with her, and if she patted her purse to affirm, that was the sign that I could run as much as I wanted! I could fly under the aisles of perfumed Linden trees to my heart’s content, and if I fell, she would be there to console me and fix my bloody knees. Throughout my happy childhood, it was rare for my knees not to have scabs and scratches between soccer, climbing, and pure playtime.
My friends and I would find cool rocks or leaves, and gather fodder from the bushes or trash to build a fort. We played spy games, hide-and-seek, climbed trees, lay and read in the sun, threw rocks in the lake, and fed the geese.
Those were the good old days when there was no “Stranger Danger” or having to be so “safe.” If we fell off the tree, we fell off the tree. I never did, though. Living by the city park was a dream for a kid! I never got tired of playing there and treasure the gift of a pure, innocent experience.
