Oh, the memory goes first!

How could I forget one of my favorite pastimes as a child - so simple, yet one that kept me occupied for hours. Writing with chalk. When I was a kid, the colorful "sidewalk chalk" of today didn't exist. All we had was simple skinny sticks of white chalk. My house was made of brick and we used to write on all the little bricks on the side of our house. We'd write our names, and then the names of friends, then the names of boys, then boys we liked, and so on and so on. I even took a picture of the bricks where I wrote the words "Class of 74" on the wall before my mom moved from the house.

Of course, the main reason we bought chalk was to play hopscotch on the street. Those skinny sticks of chalk used to wear out so fast. I can recall using that last bit of chalk as you smeared the chalk to finish up the white line of the 12 numbered box. I loved playing hopscotch. Here was a game that taught throwing skills, hopping and balancing (picking up your rock) skills. It was yet another game my sister always won.

When my youngest son was little, I bought him some of the "sidewalk chalk", thick sticks of chalk in a multitude of colors. I let him and the little girl next door draw all over the driveway. The funniest part was when I looked outside and they had each drawn a full body outline of the other person laying on the driveway. You can be an artist for the day and then the rain will wash it away. Lovely.