upstairs in Kansas City

Dad came to visit this past week, and while we were talking, he asked me what I remember about Kansas City. This is what I told him.

I remember looking out onto the street from my upstairs bedroom window after I got in trouble and Mom had spanked me. I remember thinking "Mom, you are going to be in so much trouble for spanking me when Dad comes home."

Dad laughed and said "Boy, did you have that wrong!".

Yes I did.

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)

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.