Days of my Youth

FEB 27 2026 Days of my Youth

As a boy I grew up in the country, although we lived in town. These were small towns and the country was just outside our backyard. One of the things that was a part of the summers growing up was cattails. They grew in the ditches, ponds, and lakes that were all over town. We lived in a town called Shorewood for a while and two boys the same age as my brother and I, were our next door neighbors. Ricky and Randy were their names. They were delinquents and taught us how to get into trouble. This was before any of us were in school, so we had all day to run and play and find ways to get into trouble. Our mother didn't necessarily approve of us hanging around Ricky and Randy, but since we were neighbors they were the only ones we had to play with. I couldn't tell you how close the nearest house was to us other than their house. All I remember is that before we moved they began building a new grade school just down the hill behind our house. We could stand in our backyard and watch the new brick building going up. The place of course became off limits to us, since we were warned not to go over to the site. I can't remember if they had a fence around the construction site or not. I believe they did, because otherwise the four of us surely would've snuck over there at one time or another just to see what was going on. But being near the country there was a pond not far from our house and the four of us would go over by the pond just to see if there were any frogs and to get out of sight of our parents. The pond was filled with cattails lining the shore. Ricky was the oldest, then me, then Randy, then my brother. By oldest I mean there wasn't more than two years difference between all of us. Ricky liked playing with fire and he always carried either matches or a lighter, which he probably hocked off his Dad's dresser. So Ricky told us he smoked cattails. So he proceeded one day to break off a cattail and light it with his lighter until it started burning and then smoked it. Just like a cigarette. So of course we all had to try it. I remember that it didn't taste very good and I never had the urge to smoke another cattail. Ricky one time lit the side of our house on fire. We had a window air conditioner in our bedroom and there was insulation of some kind stuffed inside the window frame. It must not've been fiberglass, because he lit it on fire and the side of the house started burning. Mom could smell smoke and she spotted the fire outside our window and immediately called the fire department. I think the fire had burned itself out before they got there, but when we looked out our bedroom window after the fire was out, we could see Ricky, Randy, and their mother staring out the window of their house at us and when they saw us looking at them they shut the curtain. Mom knew it was Ricky who started the fire. Of all the trouble we managed to get into as kids, especially with help from two neighborly delinquents, we still didn't want to burn down our bedroom where we slept. Nothing was ever pursued and nothing was ever proved and nothing was ever owned up to, but we all knew who it was. Dad knew who it was. Mom knew who it was. They knew who it was. And for a while Ricky wasn't welcome to come over and his Mom kept him away from us -- for a while. Until the trouble blew over. Today I went for a walk around the local city lake and there's a small pond next to the road that has cattails growing around it. I took a cattail and opened it up and watched the seeds fly away. I haven't done that since I was a kid. For a moment I relived my childhood again. And these days I don't smoke anything. I quit all that a long time ago, by God's grace and help. I know it's him who's watched over me all these years. So trust in God and let all your cares float away on the breeze.