Growing up, I made up my own games. There were lots of kids in my neighborhood and endless games of tag, statues, stoop ball, stick ball, hide and seek. But when told to go and play I had certain standbys that, at least in retrospect, entertained me endlessly.
We had a collection of marbles. There were 3 very large ones (dark blue, light blue, and I think a yellow one), a slightly smaller one, a ton of regular sized ones, and a couple of very small ones. The dark blue was the king, the yellow the queen, the light blue the prince, and the slightly smaller one was the princess that the king and queen didn't want their son to marry. (The small ones were the future babies, waiting off stage until the appropriate, after marriage time.) We had a set of plastic checkers and if you turned them to the wrong side, there was a tiny circle caused by the molding process that was perfect for holding the marbles steady, so I'd stack them up and had thrones for the entire royal court. I'd take my winter jacket and let it fall open on the floor so that the sleeves were caves and the terrain of the lining was mountain paths and valleys. Usually the princess would be kidnapped and the prince would lead an army to rescue her, after which the king and queen would realize it was true love and allow them to marry.
(I divided most things in boy/girl according to a system that took no thought--it just was obvious to me. Numbers go as follows: 1, 4, 6, 7 and 9 are male (4 is the most manly and heroic while 6 is definitely borderline); 2, 3, 5, 8 and 0 are girls (although poor 3 is unattractive and 5 isn't much better). I can do the same with colors and letters of the alphabet in case anyone wants to know...)
Once I could read and write, I would gather all of the dolls my sister and I had and play school. We had a rather large blackboard (the size of a bulletin board) and I'd prop it up in front of them. I had a collection of pamphlets--a series on constellations and one on soil (I have no idea where they came from)--and I'd make up lessons and tests and even keep a roll book. We only had one boy doll (Bobby) so of course he was the trouble maker. (And for as much time as I spent teaching those pamphlets, I couldn't tell you a single thing about either subject.)
My sister brought home the music for a chorus--each singing part was divided out with the piano accompanyment. New game: music teacher! Our upright piano faced the wall with a chair on either side and a couch behind the person playing it, so each of those became a section of singers. I can't tell you what the piece was, but to this day I can sing 3 voice parts of it (Bright as air on dawn of the morning, our feet they fly over the ground, to the music's merry sound, to the music's merry sound...etc.) From there I continued on to whatever sheet music I found in the piano bench, with lyrics or not. This did more for my piano skills than any lessons I was forced to take (and which I ended as soon as my mother died).
Our house had a front porch. It was more like what midwesterners call a deck, except it was in the front and made of brick. There was no cover--just a concrete slab with open brickwork about the height of a 2 year old around it. My sister and I would sit on the ground and play jacks or dolls or board games, or we'd practice climbing from the front lawn onto the porch and then jumping off again (and get yelled at). It was here that I remember learning one of the few pearls of wisdom my mother imparted to me. We had a neighbor across the street who I thought was incredibly glamourous--she had blond hair and she wore it like Lauren Bacall. Nothing could have been more different from me or my family. And after seeing her walk home one day looking especially attractive, my mother told me that blonds look good in blue. The wisdom of the ages, being passed down. I've never forgotten. Nor have I forgotten that you never know what words, profound or toss away, that leave your mouth are going to become the wisdom of the ages...
