Treasured Memories (Old Paint) 11 x 14 UART 400 GRIT 8 Ply Board

A child watches their father lay the first fresh coat on the clean new wood beneath the stair, the bolt then securely fastened and a new place is born for a bike, hand prints upon the latch, giggles as the spoke wheeled metal frame is removed, a hiding place during hide and seek, shade to eat a popsicle on a July day and a place to scare a sister come Halloween. Where a first kiss was met from a girl next door before her mother called her home for supper. Children age, they visit less frequently, not able to fit as well in the old coat, they grow so fast, the first coat, is scraped down and new coat is fit and applied. Years continue to march on, the bike no longer fits beneath, the hiding place cramped by the lawnmower that now rests there on summer days. Seasons come and go and again the paint is scraped and covered with a new coat as a bit more what once was is gone or buried beneath. The father cannot stoop as well to lay down the paint and the bolt now wears its own hat and coat of paint; screws having sealed it in place with several shades of rusted orange. Rain and snow are eating at the metal, burnt orange spreads out and stains, as cracks appear, wood splits and a trash barrel now resides beneath the stairs. Children grown, their adult hands only touch to help dad replace what is to be stored. Memories of times past will creep at odd moments as a finger picks at the coats of paint, we dream of being a child again, but we have been scraped and covered with our own new coat but beneath we are holding tight the last of our own old coat of paint.