I grew up about 30 minutes north of Reno NV. It’s a small little town called Cold Springs. I met my best friend, in the entire world, in Cold Springs. He was my next door neighbor and I wouldn’t trade any of that, for anything. I was a Nancy Gomes Glider and I’m proud to say that. I am speaking at a WordCamp in Sacramento this weekend. Naturally I drove because I wanted to stay a few nights in Reno. In doing so, I got to take a trip down memory lane and this post is basically that. This is where it all began.
Where it all began
I grew up at 3800 Macaw Ln, Reno Nevada 89506. It was an awesome house with a big yard. We lived on a corner lot and everyone knew where to go when you wanted to play football, baseball or hockey. You went to Russ’s house. Mostly because our street was never used. You could play for 60 minutes at a time and you only had to move out of the street once or twice. It was an ideal place for all the kids. Not to mention that the park was kind of run down and a far distance away. If you read one of my previous posts about Jeremy Hays and playing hockey, you know a little about my childhood. I want to show you some more of my childhood in this post.
Every day during my childhood, I would play as hard as I could. Between my friends and I, we had to be told to come inside. Now, we grew up outside of the city. There were no street lamps or anything like that. So when it got dark outside, that meant to come inside. It was that simple for us growing up.
The ditch is where it all began
Everyone has a place that they hung out when they were younger. Some had an arcade, some had a park and some had their friends house. We had the ditch. Skateboarding on a half pipe was big when I was younger. We had zero halfpipes in Nevada, but the ditch was kind of shaped like one. So we would spend our days pretending to be Tony Hawk and Bob Burnquist. We would spin until we were dizzy and it was awesome. We also had a lot of dirt claud fights and they hurt like hell when you got hit by them. Dirt claud’s are made up of dirt and rocks. Hard packed dirt with even harder rocks.
The park & cool kids
The park out in cold springs brings back a lot of memories for me. It’s where most of my soccer games were played. Those were good times. It’s also where most of my childhood bullying came from. Those were bad times. Regardless, the park is a place where I grew up. In the picture above, you see some tables. This is where the cool kids hung out. I hung out there once or twice. Mostly to help decorate whatever school function was going on at the park. Otherwise, I had no reason to be at the tables. I always wanted to hang out by the tables. I was mostly found at the baseball field. Either playing kickball or a friendly game of tag.
On my recent trip to Reno, I spent a little bit of time out in cold springs. Mostly visiting my old house and seeing how the neighborhood is progressing. I stopped by the park and I got to finally hang out at the park. You guessed it. At the tables. The cool kids tables. No one was around. It was always how I imagined it would be.
The Sev
There are zero grocery stores out in Cold Springs, NV. We did have a seven eleven. This would be the place we would go to pick up a late night gallon of milk or even a late night craving of chocolate. When I was younger, Seven Eleven or The Sev as we called it, would be the place that we wanted to go to. I mean, who does not like to spend money. Slurpees are the best thing on a hot summer day. I used to beg my parents to drive me to The Sev. Better yet, I wanted to ride my bike down there with the rest of my friends. A few times I got to do so.
The machine that dispensed the Slurpee’s brings back a lot of memories. Mostly because it brought happiness. The real truth is that this particular machine is where I witnessed some of the greatest fights of my childhood. Three to be specific. There is also a specific glass door where the soda’s are kept, that brings back some memories. That’s where I saw a kid throw another kid into the glass door and break his nose. The Sev brings back a few memories that I thought I forgot about. Apparently not.
These things are my childhood. I would not give them up for anything. Here are a few more pictures of my childhood. Have fun.
