We spent hour upon hour playing on that slip-and-slide. We destroyed grass all over our grandparents’ yard. We played on it for so long that we created a muddy pit around the slide. I remember sometimes the grass was so soggy that I felt worms surfacing the earth and moving around my feet. I can only imagine what our summer water games did to grandma and grandpa’s water bill. The muddy streak in the yard told the neighbors where we played that day.

Other kids in town would come over and play with us. Then, after a few hours of fun, they went home tired, happy, and muddy. It was such a simple toy and brought so many hours of summer joy to the hot summer days when kids live in their swimsuits, ride their bikes in packs, and enjoy their best life until the street lights come on.

As an adult, I call slip-and-slide slip-and-bleeds. I don’t understand how I spent hours running and flinging myself down a wet plastic alley without hurting the next day or sporting huge bruises. I don’t remember it hurting when I struck the ground at age 9, 10, or 11. A slip-and-bleed is a long-term injury waiting to happen in your 20s and 30s. It’s a broken bone waiting to happen when you are over 40.

The last slip-and-slide I experienced was in 2018 during RAGBRAI. Someone generously built a large slip-and-slide on a slope in their yard for RAGBRAI riders to slide on. They also created a large pool at the bottom. It was a homemade, super-charged Crocodile Mile…and I couldn’t resist. It was a hot day, and the water was cool and refreshing. It was the perfect accent to an event that was just a party on two wheels. I was 9 again, riding my bike with friends and getting wet on a slip-and-slide. A quick taste of childhood on a July day in Iowa. A chance to revisit a simpler time and reconnect with the child that lives inside me.

And I didn’t break a bone, cause a bruise, or start bleeding.