stolen Indians from Kansas City

In Kansas City, I had a friend that I seem to remember going over to his house when Mom needed to get things done. She could probably tell you his name. I can't. I remember he was there when we moved away, because I think I remember he and I hiding under the U-Haul ramp together.

What I do remember very vividly was his fence. I remember it because I stole his Indian. Both he and I had little plastic cowboys and Indians that we would play with (of the style of the plastic soldiers from "Toy Story"). The coveted piece of the set was the elusive "Indian with a drawn bow". I didn't have one (or perhaps just wanted another). He did have one, because I found it once on his fence. He must have left it out after playing sometime before, because we hadn't been playing Cowboys and Indians that day.

I took the Indian, placed it in my pants pocket, and took it home. I don't think I ever told anyone about that. I don't think I ever returned it. I would have been 4 or 5 at the time.

Kansas City topics to remember for future posts:
- the Little Hill (Deborah got a bee sting)
- Aaron getting lost (wanting to ride in the back of a pickup)
- calling for Dad to come home after getting sent to my room
- seeing a tornado on the way home from primary
- not being able to wake up Deborah in the middle of the night
- getting thrown out into the snow on Christmas day (only socks on)

Aaron's concussion

After a few years in Montpelier, a new family, the Patterson's, moved in on the next street over. If I remember correctly, Bro. Patterson was the principal of the new high school. They had a few kids around our age. I remember they had a younger boy named Gabe, a boy Aaron's age, and an older girl and an older boy. They also had a trampoline.

I don't remember the rules about the trampoline. I remember that there were a lot of families that put limits or enforced rules about trampolines after John Vermaas did the splits on a slippery trampoline and ended up in a body cast - or was that cast from the time he took a nose-dive off his mom's bike when he was taking it down M-hill? Whatever it was (the trampoline incident may not have been John at all) - some of the families removed their trampolines entirely after the accident.

At any rate, Aaron ended up on the trampoline with the Patterson girl, who was at least a few years older than him and probably outweighed him by 50 lbs or more. The story goes that she bounced Aaron, he did his own nose-dive and came down head-first on the trampoline rail - knocked out cold.

He ended up face-down, gripping the grass. I remember having him home, saying a prayer, hoping he would be alright, knowing how serious the situation was, and still thinking it was funny that he didn't know his own name, or where he was, or any number of other mundane questions that we would ask him, and he would answer with some random response. I guess I didn't take things too seriously when I was that age.

Obviously, we were all very happy that Aaron ended up being OK.

Jeff Runsten and the sandwich split

After moving to Modesto, California in December 1985, it seemed like it would be forever before I would find another good close friend. Mom and Dad even set up a conference call with my old class in Montpelier to help cheer my spirits. We moved during the middle of my 5th grade year, and it seemed that all of the kids in Mr. T's class already had their particular clique, and didn't need new members.

Almost immediately, I identified the group I wanted to be a part of. They were the smart/funny/arrogant ones (aka the popular kids), Jeff Runsten and Randy. Jeff later told me that he and Randy would sit at the back of the class and punch their fists whenever I would answer a question (like they were going to pummel me). I didn't know this at the time. They thought I did.

Towards the end of the fifth grade, Jeff and I became better friends, and I spent a good chunk of my summer at his house. I would go over to his house (a block or two behind Fremont Elementary), and we would make and split a sandwich. We would take turns making the sandwich out of whatever was in his refrigerator, and then we would cut it down the middle. We followed the tried and true method of splitting sandwiches "You cut, I choose." I would always try to choose the smaller half, and then I would be slightly perturbed when Jeff would do the same.

moving to Montpelier

We lived in Montpelier, Idaho from December 1981 to December 1985. We moved into the last house on the left of a dead-end street, Crystal Drive (phone number 847-2311). We had a very roomy backyard (big enough to play kick-ball in) and a huge sandbox on the side. We arrived at the new house late at night, and when the neighbors came over to introduce their son (John Vermaas) to me, mom and dad had to get me out of bed. John and Brig Thomas (our next-door neighbor) would end up being the neighborhood kids I would hang out with most often, with Brig being my best friend for the four years we were there. Brig and John were both a grade ahead of me, even though we were roughly the same age.

I was 7 years old and in the middle of the first grade. I can't remember if we attended school before Christmas vacation or not. I know I felt like I had 20 instant friends on my first day there. I liked Idaho. The move to Modesto in 1985 would end up being a much more difficult transition.

That's how I remember it.

First Memories

I think it appropriate that for my first post to this blog, I post my earliest memories, which come in the form of two dreams I had when I was very young (I believe I was three).

The first dream was taken straight out of the intro footage of the old cartoon Johnny Quest, you know - the first minute of the show where they do close-ups of the main characters and show them in action from previous episodes. The particular scene I ended up in was set up like this:

I am in the mouth of a cave that opens up to the side of a sheer cliff, which my back is facing. At the other end of the cave is a bald muscular man with two alligators on leashes. The alligators are not happy. They look hungry, and they are coming straight for me, restrained by the bald man.

The second dream is set in our townhouse in Kansas City. We lived in a two-story townhouse in Kansas City, Missouri while my father attended Medical School (google would have me beleive it was the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences). The staircase leading to the upper story had a landing half-way up that turned 90 degrees to the left, or it did at least in my dream. The dream is this: I wake up in the middle of the night, hear some weird noises and come down the stairs. I make it to the landing, peer of the rail and there in the kitchen (visible from the landing through the living room) is Harry the monster from Sesame Street and the Easter Bunny having a birthday party complete with cake and candles.

Like I said, I think I was three when I had these dreams. We would have moved to Kansas City sometime between when I was born (in Modesto, CA), and when Aaron was born in 1976, just before I turned 2, so the timing is right.

Don't strain yourself with meaningful interpretations of these dreams. There really isn't much there to go on.

rememberings

I was preparing a Sunday School lesson on Family History and journals, and began to think about all of my own history that isn't recorded anywhere. I do a reasonably good job about keeping a journal, but that only covers the stuff going on right now. What about all the stuff that already happened, especially all the stuff that happened when I wasn't keeping a regular journal? Some of that stuff is the best stuff of my life, and I want it tracked.

I plan on this blog to be a repository of my personal memories. Don't expect to come here finding musings on current topics or my familie's recent outings. I have other blogs that I don't post to for that.

This blog that I don't post to has the following purposes:

1. Record for posterity stuff that isn't recorded elsewhere.
2. Help jog my memory.
3. Provide entertainment and nostalgia for those who have shared these experiences.

If you fall into category 3, you may want to check up here occasionally, because chances are you will end up in this blog eventually.