Imagination is one of the many qualities of childhood that I miss. Though as an adult I can picture things in my head, nothing is as vivid as the curiosity and creativity of my childhood.
When my brother and I were in elementary school, we attended an afterschool program until my Dad could pick us up. One afternoon, my brother and I along with our friends began playing and exploring near a patch of dirt on the playground. The playground was covered in sunshine, but we were being protected from the afternoon rays by the expansive branches of the tree that shaded our area of interest. With shovels and containers galore, we decided to start digging to see what we could find. As we dug deeper and more furiously, the earth began to cake and cling to our hands, clothes, and most infuriatingly to our parents, under our nails. Soon, the smell of victory filled the air as we uncovered the beginning of what was to be our hidden treasure. A smooth, but hard surface began to peek its way out of the ground. We couldn't believe our luck! Frantically, we cleared to ground to make way for our discovery. It was apparent to us that we had unearthed something that was so rare, so valuable; we had to be careful how we treated it. Teachers soon began to gather, concerned with the fervor of our digging. After a thorough explanation of the importance of our excavation, they let us proceed. A dinosaur fossil is not something you come across every day. All too soon, it came time for our dad to pick us up. We begged him to come see our amazing discovery, in the hopes that he would help us carefully remove this artifact. As my father got closer to our digging site, the more excited I became. Just think, all of the education about history going on in the school behind us, and yet here we were finding a true piece of history in the back yard!
When my dad began to smile, I thought it was over his excitement, as me and my brother have developed our love of history from him, but soon his smile turned into muffled laughter. He did not understand the magnitude of our discovery. "Kids, I think you should clean up and head to the car. We wouldn't want this water pipe to burst from all of your vigorous digging." Water pipe!? It seemed like a cruel joke for our adventure to come to such an abrupt and unfortunate end.
Although our discovery wasn't quite what we expected, the memories of a day filled with wonder and excitement have not left me after all of these years.
-Ashley Secrest
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