It is springtime in Western North Carolina and the spring wind has started rustling through the trees. The mornings are cool and the days are starting to get warmer. This is the time that I start to see other kids outside flying their kites in the open fields of our neighborhood.
If I remember correctly, it was a nice gentle wind making everything come alive, and the weekend was going to be sunny from what my Grandpa told me. And I really wanted to fly a kite like the other kids.
During the winter I had asked my Mom and Grandpa for a kite when spring came. I am not sure if kite kits we sold when I was six years old in our small town, but I think they were. I’m not sure we even had the money to buy a kite kit at the store if they were sold there. It didn’t matter because my Grandpa and Grandma said they would help me make a kite. And that is what we did on Saturday morning. We made a homemade kite. Honestly, I was only 6 and I didn’t know you could make one from everyday things you have in the house.
First thing we needed were the sticks for the frame. My grandpa took me out to the wooded area near the house to find some straight lengths of small and strong tree branches that we would use to make the kite frame. I remember him teaching me what to look for. I guess that when he was a kid he had to make his own kite if he wanted one and was now sharing that experience with me. That is what Grandpa’s do.
We found some nice branches and took them back to the house. Outside of the side house door to the kitchen was a large tree with metal chairs underneath. That is where we would sit when the weather outside was nice. My grandpa and I sat down in the chairs and he showed me how to cut the branches to make the frame of the kite. He had a nice pocket knife that he used and it made the perfect cuts because it was very sharp. He would also use his pocket knife to whittle on sticks to pass the time on hot summer afternoons.
Once we had the two branches cut for the frame, he showed me how to tie them together at the center and then how to tie the ends with the string to form the shape of the kite. This was so interesting. I think it was the first time I saw real geometry made. Of course, at this age I really didn’t know what geometry was, I only knew simple shapes that boxes made or bouncy balls made. He then showed me how to glue the string to the branches to make it stronger. To this day, I do not know what kind of glue he used. But this was only the frame of the kite. What would we use to cover it?
Well, we covered the kite frame with newspaper. Yep, newspaper. He carefully folded the newspaper over the string spanning the ends of the branches and then glued the folds together. I think he even coated the newspaper with something to make it stronger. Wow! I now had a kite but something was missing and my grandma was working on that. It was the tail of the kite. She had put together pieces of fabric strips in a pattern of bows tied together. My grandpa and me tied the tail onto the kite frame and took the assembled kite to the field across from the house.
The wind was still gently blowing. It was later in the day and the sun was in the afternoon spot. He tied the string to the center of the kite and let it out. The wind took the kite with its homemade aerodynamics and lifted it upwards into the sky. I was amazed and excited. He showed me how to control the kite by pulling on the string and then he let me fly it.
This was a special day with my grandpa, grandma, and me, together, flying a kite with this beautiful tail of colorful bows. I hope that there are other people out in the world who have experienced this as a kid, or something like this, with their grandparents when they were young.
After we flew the kite that afternoon, we went back to the house and sat outside under that big tree enjoying a cold soda. Now, to have a soda was a special treat for me. And we enjoyed a nice cold Dr Pepper. That was my grandparents favorite. From them is where I got my love for Dr Pepper. And from them is where I got this very special memory.
A good childhood memory is something to cherish. These can be the memories that teach us about being industrious and creative. They are the ones that add to our future character, and to our strengths. And these memories become most helpful for us to understand the special impacts we can bring to others in helping them see that it can be easy to achieve excitement in their understanding that they too are special.
Here’s to continued good memories…
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