South Main Street

I always knew growing up that I might ..... just not make it! *tear*

There were five other children in my household and all within 5 years in age. It has been my experience with that many kids fighting for a place in the "hierarchy of adolescences", you learn to distinguish yourself rather quickly or you fall into the cracks. Survival of the Fittest, if you will. It is unfortunate to tell you that I was & still am the youngest of these five children and I spent most of my childhood proving to them that I was a big kid too. That also meant I was badly bruised, beat up & tortured ..... A LOT! I know that my childhood absolutely established the foundation and defined my character of today. A character that developed by the guidance of the strongest woman I've ever known, Joann.

It's funny to look back at the nostalgic memories of my early years and wonder ......How The Hell Did I Ever Survive Them?!?!?!?!? Children of today would've never made it down on South Main Street! There is no question about it. The kids of today are soft, sensitive with emotions, disrespectful and out of shape due to this era of technology!

We never had Game boy's , computers or other luxury items such as CABLE! We had each other and we had outside! There were no such things as sunblock, swimming pools, bike helmets or MERCY in the world I grew up in! But there were two things I remember we never ran out of, Imagination and Unsupervision! Probably the most dangerous it nontangiable things you can give a child.....or five of them!

My role in the hierarchy was that of The Guinea Pig. If something needed to be tested for safety purposes, weight restriction or just a good laugh..... well I was the child sacrifice. There was no negotiating, there where no questions asked..... it was my job to complete the task and make sure "everyone" could participate.

By the time my 10th birthday had arrived, I was the victim of stitches, 11 times, all in the head or face region. Never once did I receive stitches in any other part of the body nor did I break a single bone in my body. I guess lacerations and puncture wounds were just my thing.

Injuries of this sort were easily sustained by playing games like:

• Let's see if we can fold Kimmy ALL THE WAY up in the hide-away bed.
• Let's see if Kimmy can jump off the shed by swinging from the very thin branches of the neighboring berry tree during our "Army Recon" mission.
  
• Let's have Kimmy & Angie (who only played the role of guinea pig for this game & was bigger/stronger/older then I) collect all the softball size, ant infested, growing from the tree, weapons of mass destruction, "green ball things" from the field for the boys, who still continued to wing them at the their opponents, despite the fact our heads were in the line of fire!!! *damn those things hurt*
• Let's see if Kimmy can carry me on her shoulders, while I rock back and forth, down a flight of stairs! *thanks for the lovely scar ANGIE!*

All of these games are absolutely and completely true and NOT.....I repeat NOT figments of my imagination! It's been years since I sat down & thought about all of this stuff. I laugh at how dangerous some of these things were & I hope GG never has to play the role of someone's Guinea Pig, that she is smart enough to be the leader & not a sheepish follower.

Then I remember..........these people have KIDS themselves and they are all OLDER then GG! I think it's time to invest in a good helmet & AFLAC!

*the vicious cycle repeats itself*