Kite Flying

Ukiyo-e illustration of kite flying, 1859

I first tried to fly a kite with my dad and sister when we were living in Philadelphia. I don't remember whether we bought a kite or made one, but at any rate we went down to the local park one day and gave it a shot. I think my dad finally got it off the ground after some false starts, but I don't remember whether I actually had a turn flying it or not.

Later when my family moved to the New Jersey shore, my sister and I bought a couple of cheap kites from the local drugstore one spring day. Mine had Winnie the Pooh on it, and I was quite pleased with it. We brought the kites down to the beach with our parents and, after a bit of a struggle, I managed to get my kite flying. I remember being surprised at how taught the string was, and feeling a little odd at the thought of being physically connected to something so high up in the sky.

The kites broke fairly soon after we bought them, which disappointed me at the time. I haven't flown a kite since then, but it was a nice, quintessential childhood experience.