No sooner had I unloaded every single piece of baggage from my Yulon Bluebird into the upstairs room where my family would stay temporarily for a couple of days than both my daughters came to me begging,”Could we go play at your elementary school?” My typical response would be yes only if the sun was setting, in case I couldn’t stand the heat at the school playground.

One of my kids’ favorites to visit my hometown with me is to play on my elementary school campus. They could race on the track and field, ride a cemented giraffe, camel, and zebra in a beautiful garden, take the slide, ride on the swing, play the merry-go-round at the playground or even feed the fish in the small pond in front of the teacher’s office. They enjoyed the swing very much because we could have own swing and compete who’s swinging the highest. Those swing competitions were a flashback to my grade school days as we would swarm out of the classroom waiting for the swing ride during the break time. Sometimes we would ride on the same swing without dreading falling off to the ground.

Climbing upon the cemented giraffe like rock climbing without using any equipment was another big adventure for my kids as well as for me while I was playing with my classmates.  But once you sat on her back you would claim to be the conqueror. My younger daughter enjoyed sitting on the giraffe as if she had taken the reins of her.

Never did I realize the intimacy and closeness to my old elementary school until the kids brought me there. It’s back to the past, and of course to the future.