When I hear or see the word ‘gate’ I automatically think of the gate to my backyard where we lived in my old neighborhood. I loved my backyard, enclosed as it was by chain link in the suburban maze we lived in. As a child, it was my world, it contained my and my sister’s swing set, our bikes and the trees too spindly to climb but made for leafy adventures anyway. The gate to the backyard was chain link, too, and it didnt lock, it simply had a sideways-U latch to lift so you could go in, and lower to keep it from swinging back open. But, by golly, it was our back yard gate and we liked it.
I drive past the old house now and then, and I’ve noticed the chain link is rusty, but is STILL the same gate it was 20 years ago. The backyard trees are still there, that’s good. But the latest residents have filled the yard with crap. Uncared for deck and shed that I assume houses yard care tools. Too bad the residents do not use them. I cringe over the front yard trees being gone. They provided great shade for the house in the summer, AND there were two dogwood trees that are now gone. Who in their right minds cuts down DOGWOOD trees?! If they had a fungus, that’s different, but really!
Sometimes I wish I could win the lottery just so I can buy back the house and make it like it was back then. Maybe replace the chain link with a rust proof, updated version. I dunno. I just miss the place. I wish I could go open that gate and go back to that simple, blissfully ignorant time and ride my bike around my clean yard once again!
