Do you ever think of things past and really get nostalgic? I mean really nostalgic? Right now I wish I had a couple of million dollars hanging around (who doesn't?) so I could buy some land in Alabama. And not just any land, but the Blue Hole land in Remlap. Oh, ya'll don't know what you are missing when I speak of the Blue Hole. Let me tell ya a little about it.

When my sister and I were kids, our mother would take us to her best friend's house where we would play to our hearts content with her sons, Kevin and Chris. They lived waaay out in the boonies on a small lake, with pine-covered mountains rolling into the distance. Can you imagine what fun kids can have in that setting? Woods everywhere (no, I never got lost, sheesh!) and one special place right down the road a bit called the Blue Hole.

The Blue Hole was a spot in a creek, waaay down in a ravine. The creek was somewhat shallow and crystal clear, but the hole itself was a little deeper with a big rock face you could jump off of into the water. Your basic swimmin' hole. Someone a generation earlier had left an old rope swing tied to a big oak tree. Rumor has it that it used to be a favorite swimming hole for people my grandaddy's age, but somehow had been forgotten until we found it.

I have to say, my momma never knew some of the things we kids did back then. She definitely didn't know the four of us would make it a habit to go down to the Blue Hole and play in the bluffs. We would climb into little caves that were carved by the stream eons ago and pretend we were in the Land of the Lost. As a kid, it was easy to imagine dinosaurs roaming around in the ravine. You couldn't see the sky for all the trees, so it was our own little world.

Kevin and Chris were little southern gentlemen. They helped my sister and I cross old wooden bridges, climb the bluffs and do other hard things that little girls "couldn't do by themselves". They were my best friends. I hope to God I can teach my own boys to be little southern gentlemen even though they aren't living in Dixie. It's hard when no one up here makes it a habit except me. My husband is a good man, but he's a Yankee, bless his heart.

So, I miss the days when we would go exploring at the Blue Hole. I miss being brave and building forts in the woods and playing hide and seek in the old corncrib. Those were the days that made me who I am today and they should be remembered often. Too bad I can't have that land for my own. Maybe someday.