What A Week-End

I finished the last leg home from the lake today to Dublin, Ohio; got in at around 4 pm. I know you do this when you have a ton of windshield time: I recall events from my past. I started thinking about really wonderful TV shows and why we don't have the same today. The Nielson report came out two days ago and told us the most popular television shows for the last week. Of the 20 listed 15 were reality shows. Really? Whatever happened to shows like Cheers, Wings and Seinfeld?

In my ride of 17 hours I thought about the things that made me most happy in my life. I loved being a kid and playing baseball at a field in Boone, Iowa. It was next to a water tower on second street. The dimensions were small since we were only 8 years old but it was fun, fun, fun. Every day we'd gather and play work up.

I thought about the fun I had going to the Ledges State Park five miles south of town and wading in the creeks that flowed into the Des Moines River looking for crawdads and minnows. Our YMCA was a decrepit old building. The gym had a concrete floor but my buddy, Dick Musser, and I spent hours shooting baskets. We'd play checkers, have a sort of hockey game with a stick and checker and try and
get it in an opening at the end to achieve the ultimate---Victory! Of course, there was ping pong. What we didn't have were video games. We made our own fun.

Bricky Johnstone owned a bakery. It was a treat to go in and buy a donut. Since my dad played basketball for him when he was a coach Mr. Johnstone sometimes game Dick and I free stuff.

When we went into the 9th grade we walked the 12 blocks to high school. And at the end of the day when football and basketball were completed we walked home. I recall when we had an incredible snow storm we hitched a ride with a guy named Mike Sindlingher. I think his son went on to be a big time football player at the Univ. of Iowa.

Yes, all these thoughts went though my mind during my windshield time on I-70 to Columbus, Ohio.

I remember one time Muss and I, when we were age 10, agreed that it would be horrible to be an adult because none of them ever watched Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Gosh, I could go on forever with these kid memories. The point of this blog piece is why don't you take a few minutes out of your busy day and recall the good times you had with your best buddy. It's a hoot.