Any of my childhood friends could tell you that my favorite game when we were little was pretend. No matter where we were, I was always make believing that it was somewhere extraordinary! What was even better was when my friends could come with me, in fact nothing made me happier than imagining fun worlds for me and my friends to play in. T

here was actually a time in my life where all I ever wanted to do was to help my friends find a new story to experience. It even got to the point where my worlds and my games were all my friends wanted to do too, and let me tell you it was a phenomenal feeling. Soon all the boys in the neighborhood were playing with toy lightsabers all over my backyard. Yes indeed on Old Mill Road my backyard was the hottest place to be on weekends –– otherwise you would miss out on another grand adventure of my own design.

I recall one of my favorites saw the valiant knights of Old Mill Road tackling a whole army full of minions to return to their ship that had crashed at the other end of the yard. However, when they got to the ship they discovered that their once valiant leader, Thomas the Gray, was in fact the man who sabotaged the ship in the first place. Now the remaining knights of the Old Mill had to band together to defeat me in a land they knew nothing about.

By sunset they had traversed the entire yard to confront me in my throne room on the back porch. After a long battle they heroes defeated their foe in an epic showdown that will live in legend. As I lay fallen in the dirt I whisper to the new leader of the knights revealing that this was just a test of his abilities and that I had never really betrayed them, and thus Thomas the Gray died a still noble warrior. A sloppy ending to a story, but hey I was seven; I was no Shakespeare.

So what happened to the grand adventures and the epic stories spanning entire weekends? Well, the simple answer was we got older. A sad answer it maybe but one that all young boys must face eventually. So my friends quit wanting to play pretend, and we moved on to things like baseball and basketball. Life began to move on and I put my imagination away for a few years.

However, looking back I can strongly say that some of those weekends spent playing with nothing but some plastic and my imagination were some of the most well spent I believe I’ve ever had. Perhaps someday in the future if I have a family of my own, I can dust off the old imagination and tell some wondrous adventures once again, but until that day comes, I have my memories and hope, memories of a time long past for me, and hope that there are kids out there right now having just as much fun in their own little worlds.