Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Date Nights & Freedom


Kids can be quite, let’s say, imaginative.   

I look back on the many things that my siblings and I would come up with, all for simple entertainment purposes only. 

My brothers and I grew up in a little pack, literally.  There were five of us in the span of five and half years. One girl, then four boys in a row! (another girl & boy later)

Yes, BIG kudos to our mom, indeed!

 I don’t think you can get any closer to having quints than that! 
Our minds were working congruently at all times...but mostly, to simply get a laugh. Always a laugh, that just seemed to be the ultimate goal, and crazy enough, still is to this day.  

One of our favorite times to put the good old sibling creativity to the very finest use was mom and dad’s date night. I can feel the tickle in my gut now ha ha.  

In our young tender years, it was at the expense of the poor soul who ended up being our babysitter for the evening.  (If you happen to be our former babysitter, may I extend my deepest apologies and probably condolences, too.)   We were crazy...but it was a fun crazy, at least to us, we felt so happy!  Maybe that’s just how you feel when you’re in a little posse of comrades. 

We officially stepped up to the big leagues when we advanced from having a babysitter to becoming the babysitter.  Oh what bliss, the incredible sense of freedom was felt by all.

 I was assigned to be “in charge”, a title that I quite enjoyed, for what is was worth. 
 We didn’t have TV, at least one that had reception, so we were left with no recourse, we had to create our own fun. 

After saying our goodbye’s to mom and dad, assuring them that we would keep all the rules, we would start out with a homemade sugary treat, usually a cookie of some type, or if we felt like it, just the dough.

 It was all part of feeling independent and free, making our own gooey delights, and best of all, without having an adult tell us we couldn't eat cookie dough, cake batter, or anything else for that matter. We were truly free!

Next, on our independence agenda, would be coming up with something funny that would make us all laugh.  
We pranked called friends and strangers, what kid doesn't do that. 

Our brother David was exceptionally good at this, of all of us, he by far, had the most guts. I’m sure it helped that we gave him plenty of support and loving encouragement as we gathered around him. Which, in turn, gave us constant, deep, gut-busting laughter. 

 One date night, we discovered that hitting the old hang up hook quickly, would suddenly put us right in the middle of someone else's conversation. 

We could easily overhear the juicy details between the two parties.  Not certain whether or not they could hear us, we huddled around the receiver trying to be quiet as possible.

 Suddenly, Dave blurted out all his thoughts about their conversation and what he thought the solution was.  It took us by surprise just as much as it did the two older ladies, who were not happy that they had been overheard. 

 I kind of got the feeling that maybe what we were hearing really was something juicy, but we were just too young to get it. 

 They demanded to know who he was and who his mother was! Who his mother was? Now that was getting to close for comfort, (even though Dave could have kept going) we quickly hung up!  

Afterwards, we ran down the highlights, each of us adding our personal fav comments, as well as, what we should of or might of said.  It was almost like we lived and grew up in Mayberry. Life was good...real good! 

Another fabulous date night of mom and dad’s, was particularly memorable for me.  I saw something in my brother David that I considered to be AMAZING even OUTSTANDING! 

We had gathered around mom and dad’s stereo and were flipping through all the stations, we were cool, and listening to the stereo loudly, proved it to be true. 

We couldn’t find much on FM so we had to go to the AM stations...not so cool.  We came across a local station that was broadcasting not far from where we lived.  It was called the Jesus Saves station.  

They were broadcasting live and taking live calls.  We were hearing a lot of different stories from callers that had taken various paths in life.  

The commentators kept announcing the phone number along with the invitation to call in.  We joked about what if we called...what would we say...how funny it would be...but of course, we weren’t serious.  

Suddenly, Dave yells up from the downstairs and tells us to be quiet, he is calling the radio station right now!  We all looked at each other with wide eyes and big fat smiles on our faces. Oh my heck!  What is he going to say?  The anticipation was so exciting and intense.

 In no time, we heard our brother on the stereo, disguising his voice and going by the name of Joe.  We were trying  desperately to control and quiet our laughter. He went on and on with not a single glitch, it was like he had a script only he didn't. 

He told his whole life story that had every possible dramatic element you could imagine. 
From parents that beat him, to really loving whiskey, living on the streets, trying hard to change his life, and everything in between. It lasted, what felt like, forever! 

 The radio hosts were so kind and genuine to him. Joe was the man alright, a ten year old boy!  Who didn’t break a laugh, (even though he must have overheard his siblings stifled snickers) nope, he didn’t even have a slight pause.  Wow, Dave was truly my hero! How and where did he come up with...all those amazing words? 

Mom and dad’s date nights were epic to us!  We loved every minute of our priceless freedom, to be just us kids!

That’s just one of many spontaneous, imaginative, and entertaining moments that our brother Dave has given us and continues to do so, hopefully always!  Life would be far to boring without his contagious wit along with the highly humorous synergy we all create together! 

Now that we are all grown up and we go out for a date night, do you ever wonder what your kids are doing...really?

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