When Children were Children
A dual birthday celebration
By Sharon Hopper

Here it is fall and I was just thinking the other day about the trip we made every single fall about the time of my birthday, which is in the beginning of October. 

My grandmother’s birthday was the day after mine so we always had a family outing for the occasion. Now I am not so sure how children today would view this outing, but in my day it was a grand day and it happened every year. 

First we would go to my grandmother’s house and have a dinner. Usually chicken. Then we would load everyone into two cars. No seatbelts or car seats. We just piled in 6 adults and 5 children and we switched throughout the journey so everyone had a chance to ride with grandpa, who made going in the car fun. We would take off and drive through the hills and view the beautiful scenery that God manages to paint every fall. We always went to the fire tower in the Mohican forest and were allowed to climb the tower as far as we wanted to go. One time I made it to the top and was quite amazed at myself. And I remember the view. It was awesome and I was a bit scared to climb down. Instead of parents hollering at us about the danger, they would encourage us to go higher. Today they would be arrested and charged with child endangering. In fact today there is a high fence around the tower all locked up so no one can climb it. 

After the tower we always went to the orchard and got a basket of apples and some cider. Of course all us kids ate an apple right from the tree. Sometimes they had a lamb or goats for us to pet and feed. There was always a wagon full of hay and pumpkins and a tractor would pull us through the orchard. That was so fun. 

On the way home we would get to stop for ice cream and that was the topping for the outing. The best thing was that grandpa would let us take turns steering the car on the country roads, which were gravel. When we returned to the house the adults would go inside and yak and we would go outside and play hide and seek till after dark. That was our fall outing every year for many, many years. So simple and yet such a happy time. I will always love the fall season.