i love a parade

Just this week I got an e-mail from a long-lost childhood friend.

It was a bit shocking to say the least.

She lived behind me for a few years when I was 7 or 8. I know I was on treatment for cancer at the time only because she remembered and asked how it all turned out. (been in remission for 18 years... So great!)

She brought up stuff that I had completely forgotten. And I'm really sorry to say that I don't remember much of what we did as kids.

I do remember they had an old chicken coup we used to play in. And at one point, we were at "war" with each other. It was myself and a gaggle of kids across the street, and she and her sister on the other side. The coup was their fortress and a "bush-house" we'd carved outta of my mom's lilacs (sorry mom) was our fort.

But the e-mail started getting me thinking about my childhood and, honestly, how good I had it. Unlike some folks who had traumatic childhoods and bad parents, aside from the cancer thing and a mostly absent father, I had about as idyllic childhood as one could have.

While most kids were into TV and the new Atari (still pre-computers) I was busy with projects.

I CONSTANTLY had something going on. I was constantly outside playing in some form or another.

Here's some highlights:

• As very young child, my mom was a babysitter for a bunch of kids. So I would organize parades around the block with, of course, me as the leader of the band. To this day, I love parades. The more bands, the better. A parade with just bands? Might just wet myself.
• Besides the 'bush-house' we had an alternate club space in a gully just outside of town. It was covered with trees and full of trash the local farmers had dumped in it. The perfect play spot for kids with imaginations.
• I discovered how to get into the town rain sewers. At one point, we walked the entire length of the town through the storm sewers.
• I tried to start my own choir when I was 10. I couldn't understand why no one showed up for the auditions.
• When I was over creating plays, I tried to start a play house. For a while, we used the new play set my dad had built as our set. When I wanted to get more fancy, we moved it into the garage. I built a proscenium that could be lifted into the rafters, my friend Adam and I built a control box with dimmers that we could hook lights up to. Had my stereo with the speakers hanging from the rafters and even had working curtains.
• When I was 12, I started cooking and needed fresh herbs, so I built my own herb garden to supply the meals.
• My red wagon was my favorite toy. We used it as a float in the parades and turned the ditch next to our house into a roller coaster.
• Also tried to start a summer kids club with planned weekly activities. Only my friends could be members.
• Blocks were my second favorite toy. I was constantly building something with them. I liked building them on top of my record player turn table and then when I was done building it, turn it on and let it spin the creation apart.
• We used our bunk beds like a space ship and used to dress in our snow suits as our space suits. The stars on the ceiling added that special effect. When we were launching, we'd have the lights on, and when we got to outter space, we'd turn them off to see the stars.

I was also REALLY good at making money. I loved having money.

As a very little kid, I used to pick flowers from the neighbors yard, then go to their front door and sell them back to them as fresh cut flowers. (mom put the brakes on that one)

So then I made windchimes out of wood and sold them. They didn't go over well.

There were lots of girls in the neighborhood, so I made barbie furniture out of mud. The girls didn't go for it.

On my artistic side, I glued together rocks from the road and painted them and tried to sell them as original art.

But my two best sellers were popcorn and lemonade.

My best friend across the street was a farmer that grew popcorn. So we'd get her dad to give us some and we'd sell it around the neighborhood.

And almost every day during the summer we had lemonade stands. Our best profit came on the day that our neighbor was having and auction. We set up our stand across the yard from where the local church was selling refreshments. We WAY undersold them on the drinks with our $.10 lemonade. We made $27 dollars that day and were miffed when our mom's asked for the cut of the profits since they provided the lemonade. Little did I understand the necessity of suppliers.

And God bless my mom for putting up with all the stuff I did. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have had nearly as good a childhood as I did.

It wasn't a good childhood, it was a great childhood.