Tails in the Wind

There are some things that bring out the kid in you and kite flying is one of those things. I'll be attending the Zilker Park Kite Festival in Austin this weekend with thousand of other people who want to rekindle their youth. The festival will be filled with thousand of kids all trying to get their first kite into the air and their dogs all chasing kite tails as the kids struggle to get their kites into the sky.
Kites have sure come a long way since I got my first one. My first kite was diamond shaped and it came free with a jar of peanut butter that Mom bought at the grocery store. Even as a kid, when I bought kites I remember them being 25 cents or maybe 50 cent if I splurged and bought a box kite. Never could I get those box kites to fly so I guess I should have known that my attempts of acting like a big spender later in life would never fool anyone. If there is one thing learned from my youthful days of kite flying it is that I now know where my love of peanut butter comes from.
By the time plastic kites became popular I was well into my teen years and flying kits were for kids. Thinking I was already an adult it was many years before I ever flew another kite but eventually I found that pleasure again. As an adult the best kite flying times were on the Texas coast. Every time I made a trip to the beach I would take several cheap kites along for the trip. Standing on the beach I would always let the kite take all of it's string as it flew into the air until it was flying so high and far, I could barely see it. When there was no more string to be let out I would cut the kite lose and let it fly where it wanted. The minute I cut that string my youthful years always seemed to return. Just thinking of some kid finding that kite made me feel like a kid again. Maybe it would have landed on the ground or maybe in the top of a tree but if I had found it you can rest assured there would have been an attempt to get it back into the sky.
Physically we can never return to our youth but mentally the days of our youth are only a smile away. I'll be all smiles this weekend as I watch thousand of tails blowing in the wind. The only thing that could place a bigger smile on my face is if I found a 25 cent kite taped to a jar of peanut butter on my next trip to the grocery store.