Freedom to Play and Grow at Suitsus
by Juanita Herff Chipman
Mother gave us the freedom to be ourselves. She allowed us to get dirty, to bathe only when we swam in the pool, which was usually twice every day. We would strip to bear skin, run over the cobbled flagstones, jump into the icy water, yelling "cannonball!!". We would try to dunk each other until one was exhausted or almost drowned. One would be winner, the other loser. Then we would make up if too much damage happened, like getting a nose full of water. Like basking lizards, we would then crawl out onto the smooth flagstone rim of the pool to bake in the brilliant summer sunlight.
The Cibolo Creek, with its maidenhair fern banks, huge cypress trees, falls and shallows and deep, dark, rocky pools, was another favorite place. We would swim or fish in the beautiful but sometimes slimy creek, wading through clinging waterweeds, reminding us of fuzzy cattails. There, at night, we would go frog gigging with Augie in a flat green kayak, which our father and Augie had made. We would carry a lantern and listen for the boorok, boorok, boorok sounds of the papa frogs. The light from the lantern would mesmerize the frogs long enough for one of us to spear the frog with the satanic-looking gig.
We loved to stand under our natural shower bath - a shelf-like swelling of settlement had made a perfect shower. The spring about Suitsus came tumbling over the bluff and maidenhair fern.
We tingled with delight as clear, icy water prickled our naked backs. Perch and huge bass could be seen looking for food as the bubbles caused by the splashing water fascinated the fish.
