we’d often spend days in the woods or the desert. Parallel to that, my indoor life was hectic and changing. When I think of my childhood, I think of Utah. It’s where I lived for 12 of my 14 years being alive. I was born in a small house on the outskirts of Heber. My parents made it a necessity that me and my four siblings went outside as much as possible. Hiking and backpacking made up a majority of my childhood, as
The first house I remember living in was a small house in a community called Timberlakes. It was small and had a wood stove. It had a treehouse and a small makeshift zipline that my siblings and I would play on a lot. Once, I even tried to slide down with a normal rope, but it ripped, and I fell about 7 feet to the ground.
The next was a slightly larger home we rented in eastern Heber. My brother and I used to hide in the closets and write comics about superheroes. In the backyard, there was a crab-apple tree that my siblings and I would climb up and throw water balloons at each other in.
The last house in Utah that I lived in was a house in Kamas on a hillside. There was a slope next to the house: it was long, steep, and intimidating. We’d often go down to the creek at the bottom of the slope and swim in it during summertime. During the springtime, my siblings and I would go down to the creek and trek up to the other side of the hill and collect these crystals that
were there. This house is important to me because it is where the majority of my truly life-changing events happened. I wish I could go back and see what happened and what didn’t because my memory is foggy.
I reminisce about these times a lot. I used to be filled with sadness as time and time again they reminded me of the times when things were simpler and more vibrant, when life worked for me instead of me working for it. We mustn’t let ourselves dwell on the past while we have things to work for in the future. Our friends, our family, and our future depend on how we treat the present as well as how we deal with the past. After all, we can’t make a future while focusing on the past.
