Family Stories, Poetry

I’d like to fall back once a year

by Another Slice

Note: I’ve never been a big fan of Daylight Savings Time, which has always struck me as an embarrassingly mortal attempt to stave off the inevitable shortening of the days. Who are we kidding, here? We can’t control time. It’d be nice if we could, though…

I’d like to fall back once a year 

I’d like to fall back once a year

to hang out with those I hold dear.

I’d relish the choice

to hear my dad’s voice

and gather my little ones near.

 

I’d like to be able to see

the kids who are closest to me

walk home from the park.

It’d be quite a lark

to serve tiny cups filled with tea.

 

I’d like to buy dresses with bows

and paint nails on fat little toes.

My boys’ dungarees

would have holes in the knees

with grass stains above and below.

 

I’d like to see Colver once more

and hike to the general store.

I’d eat walnut rolls,

slurp soup from big bowls,

see Grandma and Pap at the door.

 

The future’s as bright as the past.

My visit would not have to last.

I just think it’d be fun

to see everyone

because seasons change shockingly fast.

Swing set in the park
The park across the street is still full of kids, I just liked it a little better when it was full of MY kids.
Charlie's training wheels
We took his training wheels off and Charlie never looked back. This little tyke now works as a television producer in New York.
Walking home from school
It was nice when they could walk home from where they were, and they carried all their important things in fat backpacks.
Father's Day jump off the front porch
But those kids jumped off the front porch and kept right on growing.
Grandma's front porch
I miss this front porch on 20 Row in Colver, PA too…
Baba tickles Vinnie
…and the lady who lived there — my grandma, who played a mean game of coffee, tea, lunch punch!
Kitchen full of boys
I’d like one more day with my kitchen full of all the crazy little boys in the neighborhood.
Dad and Charlie
I’d like to see this guy again, too!
Grandpa Fey
…and pour one more highball — Kesslers and club soda in a tall glass with ice — for my grandpa, Bob Fey.
Katherine and Vinnie
I liked buying dresses that tied in big bows in the back…

Front porch kids shot
…and all four of my kids together on the front porch.

Pace Oddity

8 thoughts on “I’d like to fall back once a year”

  4. Love the poem and the concept or being able to go back to those days for just a little while. How I wish we moms were given a crystal ball to know the last time we would play with Matchbox cars, or set up a train track, or braid hair, or clean up Play-Doh, or tell our kids not to let the door slam when they ran outside with their friends, or say prayers with our kids after they crawled into bed. I think we would enjoy those things so much more at the time.

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