Awwww, the memories.
Who doesn't love to reminisce?
Especially the childhood memories.
I mean,
who doesn't want to be a kid again?
Different time.
Different world.
It was much better and much safer in those days.
It was a time when you could ride your bike around the neighborhood and you didn't have to worry about any strangers picking you up or the wrong people even being in your neighborhood.
Just about the very 1st memory I have is when I met my 1st best friend.
He was on 24th Street, and me?
I was on 25th.
We couldn't be anymore than 4. We were so young.
So our backyards met, and we saw each other and introduced ourselves at the short fenceline.
You would never guess what happened next.
After he informed me of his name, I was thinking,
Well how about that?
We got the same name!
Who would have ever guessed?
A chance in a million!
Our new friendship was born.
Oh, but that was just the very beginning.
The memories of the antics we got ourselves into......were plentiful.
After we met, we were always riding our bikes around together. Whenever the volunteer fire dept siren would sound, we would ride them so fast so we could see the fire engines come out of the firehouse. After that was over, we mostly played around the railroad tracks. We were not the safest cans in the pack. But first, we had to get there, and I remember there was a deep ravine we had to cross. We both had our bikes but had to get a good head start to get across. It was challenging but if we got enough speed we could do it.
Aces!!
We made it!
When we finally got to the tracks we started our fun and dangerous antics. We did all kinds of playing around them and came close to even getting into trouble. We were doing everything from being under the tracks waiting for an engine to come by, all the way up to putting pennies on the tracks.
We were under them one day and he was surprised since he noticed that it was a big engine in which he said,
"Oh, man no way! You didn't tell me it was one of those huge engines that could make you deaf!" so we got away just in the nick of time.
Then he showed me the trick of putting pennies on the track and we all know how it gets squashed and distorted by the passing train.
So he had me put something on the track,
and what did I do?
I was all GUNG HO and put a railroad tie on the track.
Then he saw what it was that I had put on the track and then he said,
"Oh, man no way! That's way too big, it will derail the train and we will get into tons of trouble! Get it off there!"
Leave it up to me to do something not only crazy but stupid too. I was figuring that a huge massive engine could easily pulverize a little railroad tie like a splinter.
But that's me, going above and beyond.
So he helped me get it off quickly.
When we finally got tired of getting into trouble on the tracks he suggested we go to Erie Ceramics. It was kind of cool since there was a big pit in the back of the yard and it had some type of clay or thick substance in it. We threw rocks and other debris into it and it would make a mark and stick on the top, and not sink.
Then as I scan my memory banks of my childhood further, there was another spot that was a big hole in the ground and we were throwing rocks again and somehow I fell into it with some water in it.
Don't worry, it wasn't that deep. But I asked him to help me out and he tried with all his might but couldn't pull me up.
"Oh, man NO way! I can't, you're way too heavy!"
he said.
But I managed to find a way out.
I will never forget when we were at a car wash. We always seemed to challenge each other. First, he told me to go into the wash, but it was where the employees would tend to the wash, so it was humanly possible to occupy that space and perfectly safe.
Oh, then it was time for me to pick the new challenge. I said to enter the place where the cars actually get washed.
That's a NO-NO. I remember a guy saying,
"Hey you kids, get outta there!"
So we hightailed it outta there just like he said.
Ok, we finally ended up at my house later that afternoon and somehow I was on top of the single-story garage and was pouring water out of a glass onto the ground and while I was pouring the water out, I fell off the garage to the ground.
No, I was ok. I didn't get hurt and didn't break anything. But it could be why I am apprehensive of heights to this very day.
So I asked him to go up and do the same thing, and of course, he said,
"Oh, man NO way, not after you fell."
The final memory I recall is when we were in an alley and were throwing rocks against a wall.
Why?
you ask?
I have NO idea, just that kids will be kids, is the only thing that comes to mind.
Of course, needless to say we were caught by the store owner and our parents were called, and he had us wait till they got there. After they got there it turns out that he told our parents that mirrors were on the other side of the wall that we were terrorizing with the rocks.
After we figured we were going to be in deep shit, I asked,
"Can we still be friends to the end, Chris?"
Guess what his answer was,.....
He said,
"Oh man, YES way. We will be friends until the end of eternity!"
We then shook hands and bonded together as we gave each other a huge hug, more than we ever have before.
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