The Box ( Short Story )

I posted this awhile back before the hackers took everything so here I am posting it again….

THE BOX

 

It really amazes me how people believe that the better their possessions are the better their life really is. Nothing could be further from the truth. My life has been defined by a simple cardboard box. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. One persons trash became the subject of a lifetime of reflecting. Without even knowing that by throwing out something so simple it would have such a profound effect on a child’s life.

The winters that I remember as a child were a lot harsher than what we experience now. Maybe it was because as a child even something so small could seem so extreme. Perhaps it’s when I grew older I have learned to put things into perspective. Even things as simple as the level of snow on the ground, nothing is as it was when I was young. Life has a tendency of being like that. Nothing being as you remembered it.

One particular winter in my 6th grade year was a good one for all the children in the neighborhood. Christmas had come and with it brought new snow toys. And school vacation. It was a wonderful time of my life. The snow filled the ground and trees. Friends were in great supply. The sun shone all around us as we played in the snow.

I was not one of the ‘fortunate’ children that Christmas. Everyone I knew got a brand new toboggan to play in the snow that year. New sleds to slide down the hill at will, while screaming in fright. My life was not one of privilege as some of the kids that I chummed around with that year. But I was not one to complain. I had a great family life, unlike some of them. I felt I was the blessed one.

One afternoon three friends came calling on me to go slide down the big hill in the back of our house. It was a great hill, perfect for tobogganing. It had snowed the night before. The hill was screaming our names. We had no other choice but to answer the call. So, I donned my hand-me-down snow suit that was given by a cousin who had outgrown it and headed for the hill with my friends.

I didn’t have a fancy toboggan, no fancy sled to ride. My father worked at a dump site as the waste manager. With nine children to feed and house it didn’t leave much for such luxuries as a new toboggan. But what I did have was an endless supply of large cardboard boxes. My father brought them home on a regular basis. We never complained about not having what others had because we knew the value of friendship and family instead. So with two boxes under my arm, I joined my friends enroute to the hill.

I tore open the side of my box as I always did. I remember Kim Horan, one of the most privileged of kids laughing at me. How silly I looked in a bright orange snow suit, and carting around a cardboard box to play on. But I wore a smile on my face that showed I didn’t care about anything like that. I was proud that I had what I did have in my life.

Kim and her other friends all climbed onto her toboggan that had enough room for an entire classroom full of kids, and they pushed off.

They didn’t make it halfway down the hill before they all started to fall off and end up in a pile in the middle of the hill as their toboggan continued its journey down the hill.

I stood at the top of the hill giggling to myself at the comedy act I witnessed in front of me. Kids were all laughing and hollering all around me. It was a fun time being had by all.

It was my turn to take a crack at the hill. Me and my cardboard box. Just the two of us. No fancy rails to hold onto. No rope to lead the way. Just my hands bunching up what little bit of the box I could hold in my mittened hands. I sat down on the box, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I gave myself a little nudge forward to get momentum to make it down the hill. What a rush it was, sliding down that hill like I owned it. I went right to the bottom at full speed. An exhilarating ride that took my breath away and left me laying on my back looking up at the sun in the sky and thinking that life could never be any better than at that moment. I gathered my box up and dragged it back up to the top of the hill with me.

I watched as Kim and her friends climbed on her toboggan once more. Again, they only made it halfway down the hill. I envied her for owning such a luxury item at that moment. The feeling was quickly lost when I once again climbed onto my box and made my way down to the bottom once more. I was laughing so hard that my sides hurt as I struggled for breath to make it up to the top of the hill once more.

When I got to the top, everyone was starring at me. They were cold and tired. They didn’t seem to be having much fun at all. Yet there I was, red in the face from the wind, but alive inside from the thrill of conquering the hill. I was worried that I would be there by myself, I didn’t want to end the fun quite yet.

Kim looked at me with envy. I was beside myself at that moment. How could she envy me? I was the one in the bright orange hand me downs, playing with a cardboard box. What did I have that she didn’t? How could a child who comes from luxury envy a child who’s best toy was a cardboard box?

Kim quietly asked me if she could give the box

a try. I was taken aback by this request, but I smiled at her and told her to go for it. I showed her how to hold onto the front of the box so it doesn’t slip out from underneath her. She positioned herself at the top of the hill and I gave her a bit of a push.

Kim let out the loudest scream I had ever heard on that hill. She was having the time of her life as she made her way down the long hill at full speed. Once she made it to the bottom all she could do is lay back and bask in the excitement of the ride. It was exciting for me to watch her as well.

When she made it back to the top of the hill, she suggested to her skeptical friend Lisa to give the box a try. So one by one, all of the kids gave the box a run down the hill. Cardboard and water, snow, slush and ice don’t mix very well. The wax coating on the box disappeared before too long. The second box was used up before we knew it as well.

I went running back to the house where I was greeted by my father at the front door. I asked him for four more boxes please. Struggled to carry them all on my own, but headed back to the top of the hill.

Leaning against the trees were three toboggans and two red flyer sleds. Jetting down the hill at top speed were four snow demons riding the poor man’s toboggan.

I learned a lot that day. Life lessons that never leave your mind. Although I was not a privileged child, I was a lucky one. Having wealth and possessions did not mean you had more fun. I gained a lot of respect from my friends that day. I showed no fear at having hand me down snow suits or cardboard boxes as my toboggan. I was proud of the person that I was, and what I have since turned out to be.

I will always remember that day as a turning point in my young life. People showed me that it’s what you do with what you have that counts, not what you have and can do without.