I've been in a bit of a slump lately. I don't know why, precisely, but for some odd reason I can't seem to make any cohesive thoughts out of the memory bits I have floating around. My wife asked if I'd written anything lately and I had to tell her that it's not that easy when you're trying to gather decades-old memories. I can't just force it; they have to come by themselves with as little formatting of my own. You see, when we as a species attempt to search our brains for memories, the brain itself can be our worst enemy. As you think about things you have seen or instances you have been involved in, the brain will fill in any gaps with things that may or may not be right. To you -or me- they might seem accurate, but there is a good chance those spaces are just being filled with other memories, or even things that you -the rememberer- never even actually experienced. So you have to be careful.
So I think I'll use today as just a vacuum bag of sorts, and just toss out a few small pieces and see what comes of them.
One year in Scouts, I want to say maybe 1985 or '86, we took a very cool trip to Shiloh, Tennessee. Apparently we were studying Civil War battles or something (you see what I mean? I don't even remember why we went- but I know for a fact we did), and wanted to do a march similar to the soldiers from the 1800's. Anyway, for what ever reason, we spent ten days on the battle trail and just camped where we could, and hiked and stopped at historically significant spots. As far as I remember, it was fun, aside from the one point that, since I was the biggest and tallest of the scout, I had to lug the most stuff in my pack. Boy, I can just imagine that work out now! That gear was heavy! I had the cooking supplies, some bed rolls, and nearly all the food. Oh, and guess how hot it was doing this in the late Spring? The answer is: very. Regardless, we had a ball and that is definitely one of the coolest trips we went on while I was in scouts.
Some of the other trips I remember: Washington DC, Gettysburg, VA, The Michigan UP a few times, and a bunch of Jamborees in Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. We had a lot of trips.
I remember the deck around our pool was some kind of really crappy stone. I can't even describe it properly, but the way it was made left hundreds of little, sharp ridges that never got worn down and we learned in a hurry that if you didn't wear some kind of sandal from the sliding back door across the fifteen feet to the pool, you's slice your feet to ribbons. Some of us never got the point and there was always a bunch of blood and equally bloodied feet whenever we had company over. I seem to remember at one point we replaced it with a more foot-friendly deck, but it'll always be that horrific mess that I'll never forget.
One summer I broke my brother's arm. Don't worry, it was an accident. We were playing football with my dad in the front yard because, as I said, the backyard was 85% pool and demonic deck. Anyway, we were really getting into it; dad would throw it up, and my brother and I would fight over who would catch it and try to score a touchdown. Well, I was (and still am) bigger than Brandon by a fair bit, and therefor had a size advantage over him. I was taller, too. Now, we're pretty even on the height issue, but I'm still twice his size. Kinda sad, really. So, dad chucked it up, we positioned ourselves... unfortunately Brandon's position was right behind me. Well, I caught it all right, and I fell directly on Brandon and his outstretched arm. Whoops! Broken. I'm not sure if we knew it right away, or just when he finally caught his breath and wailed like a sick banshee. Either way, I broke it real good.
As I said, my sister, Kristy, had her own room at the end of the upstairs hall. I did forget to mention, though, that there was an additional room upstairs that was, for a time, used as my dad's office or den or whatever, until it eventually became my brother's room. Anyway, Kristy's room ha a window that looked out over the backyard and the pool, and this was a bad thing. It was bad because it turns out Barbie dolls can dive pretty well! Yeah, we (and by we, I'm only assuming Brandon and maybe my cousins) used to chuck them out, completely naked (the dolls I mean, not us) directly into the pool. Days later we'd find their separated heads bobbing around in the filter... and it was about this time that she'd run screaming to our parents. Yeah, that was fun.
My friend, Jayesh Mehta lived just a few houses down from Chad on Bellaire (the street adjacent to ours) and we used to all meet up at his house pretty early in the mornings and then walk to school together. The only reason I could think of for meeting at Jayesh's house was to watch Three Stooges at like seven a.m. That and maybe it took him forever to get ready, because I really only remember Chad and I sitting in his family room laughing at the Stooges. That's about as much as I can dig up of that memory, but that little bit is there, at any rate.
Okay, there's a few little nuggets for ya! See ya next time!
So I think I'll use today as just a vacuum bag of sorts, and just toss out a few small pieces and see what comes of them.
One year in Scouts, I want to say maybe 1985 or '86, we took a very cool trip to Shiloh, Tennessee. Apparently we were studying Civil War battles or something (you see what I mean? I don't even remember why we went- but I know for a fact we did), and wanted to do a march similar to the soldiers from the 1800's. Anyway, for what ever reason, we spent ten days on the battle trail and just camped where we could, and hiked and stopped at historically significant spots. As far as I remember, it was fun, aside from the one point that, since I was the biggest and tallest of the scout, I had to lug the most stuff in my pack. Boy, I can just imagine that work out now! That gear was heavy! I had the cooking supplies, some bed rolls, and nearly all the food. Oh, and guess how hot it was doing this in the late Spring? The answer is: very. Regardless, we had a ball and that is definitely one of the coolest trips we went on while I was in scouts.
Some of the other trips I remember: Washington DC, Gettysburg, VA, The Michigan UP a few times, and a bunch of Jamborees in Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. We had a lot of trips.
I remember the deck around our pool was some kind of really crappy stone. I can't even describe it properly, but the way it was made left hundreds of little, sharp ridges that never got worn down and we learned in a hurry that if you didn't wear some kind of sandal from the sliding back door across the fifteen feet to the pool, you's slice your feet to ribbons. Some of us never got the point and there was always a bunch of blood and equally bloodied feet whenever we had company over. I seem to remember at one point we replaced it with a more foot-friendly deck, but it'll always be that horrific mess that I'll never forget.
One summer I broke my brother's arm. Don't worry, it was an accident. We were playing football with my dad in the front yard because, as I said, the backyard was 85% pool and demonic deck. Anyway, we were really getting into it; dad would throw it up, and my brother and I would fight over who would catch it and try to score a touchdown. Well, I was (and still am) bigger than Brandon by a fair bit, and therefor had a size advantage over him. I was taller, too. Now, we're pretty even on the height issue, but I'm still twice his size. Kinda sad, really. So, dad chucked it up, we positioned ourselves... unfortunately Brandon's position was right behind me. Well, I caught it all right, and I fell directly on Brandon and his outstretched arm. Whoops! Broken. I'm not sure if we knew it right away, or just when he finally caught his breath and wailed like a sick banshee. Either way, I broke it real good.
As I said, my sister, Kristy, had her own room at the end of the upstairs hall. I did forget to mention, though, that there was an additional room upstairs that was, for a time, used as my dad's office or den or whatever, until it eventually became my brother's room. Anyway, Kristy's room ha a window that looked out over the backyard and the pool, and this was a bad thing. It was bad because it turns out Barbie dolls can dive pretty well! Yeah, we (and by we, I'm only assuming Brandon and maybe my cousins) used to chuck them out, completely naked (the dolls I mean, not us) directly into the pool. Days later we'd find their separated heads bobbing around in the filter... and it was about this time that she'd run screaming to our parents. Yeah, that was fun.
My friend, Jayesh Mehta lived just a few houses down from Chad on Bellaire (the street adjacent to ours) and we used to all meet up at his house pretty early in the mornings and then walk to school together. The only reason I could think of for meeting at Jayesh's house was to watch Three Stooges at like seven a.m. That and maybe it took him forever to get ready, because I really only remember Chad and I sitting in his family room laughing at the Stooges. That's about as much as I can dig up of that memory, but that little bit is there, at any rate.
Okay, there's a few little nuggets for ya! See ya next time!
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