Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Family, friends and acquaintances had a reunion at the Orchard View Swim club in Schnecksville, PA two months ago, where we celebrated the good memories of our childhoods. Childhood friends occupy an intimate place in our minds that people we meet later in life do not, for the honest, immature brain connects emotionally rather than intellectually, and those bonds form memories uncomplicated and pure. The pool was built in an empty field only a few hundred yards to the rear of our house when I was five years old, so my siblings and I spent many hours swimming recreationally and on the competitive team that swam against other clubs from the Allentown area. Some of the people in the picture were close neighbors and close friends so we played football and capture the flag and camped out and did other things that kids do. In retrospect I consider myself to have had an idyllic childhood roaming through the fields chasing insects and fishing and feeling unconditionally loved and accepted by my parents and brothers and sisters. In later life I learned that a secure childhood was not the experience of some people, so I thank my parents and fate for having born me into those circumstances. Most of the people in the picture concur that Schnecksville was a wonderful place to have grown up during a time when children played freely until dusk without fear of violence and without the overly structured childhoods and internet related problems that seem to burden modern children. It was a golden age in my memory at least. Time of course has formed many new lines on our faces and some bulges in the belly, which prompted me to joke to one of the young lifeguards sitting nearby- “...just think, in fifty years you too can look like this!” And we all hoped that their memories would be as pleasant.

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