Childhood Memories

I remember it.

mom went out.

maybe dad was at work, or he was out with mom.

some furniture was moved out of the way.

the heavy, grey, exercise mats were pulled out.

not so we could put on the Richard Simmons record, and exercise... not this time.

we... my brother (i'll call him The Instigator) and i, rolled the mats up.

they don't roll up so small, and as i have already mentioned, they are heavy.

does anyone remember those types of mats?... heavy!

we couldn't hold them in our hands very well, 

too awkward, 

so we held them with our arms wrapped around.

then the battle would begin.

that's right... battle.

we would go at each other swinging our mats... our weapons.

trying to hit each other.

i remember the fun. 

this secret battle.

i don't remember anyone getting hurt.

how could we - we couldn't really hit eachother so well - 

but maybe one of us did and due to a head trauma, i don't remember it.

i don't remember anything being broken, 

but i have this feeling in my gut that something probably did.

i don't even know if this awesome battle happened more than once, 

but i always think on it as a regular occurrence.

i just remember it being hilarious.  

fun.  

a wonderful memory in my childhood.

i remember them.

The Instigator and i having our own World Wrestling Federation matches out on the front lawn.

the stairs were the top rope.

i do remember people getting hurt... 

our wrestling was pretty real at times.

but nothing too bad, or we wouldn't have done it more than once.

i remember 

The Instigator and i trying to get other kids at our elementary school to sign the petition:

to ban Cabbage Patch Kids.

those things were ugly.

we didn't want to see them at our school.

the petition didn't work.

i remember 

The Instigator being disappointed in his little sister as i bought myself a Cabbage Patch Preemie

-those things were cute.

the original ones were still ugly.

it didn't matter.

i had gone to the dark side.

i remember

Christmas morning.

sneaking down to the Christmas tree.

The Instigator and i trying to guess what each of our gifts were.

there was one that we couldn't figure out at all.

we grabbed a pencil and some paper.

by feeling the wrapped gift we tried to draw what it could be.

still no idea.

it ended up being a wooden ornament that looked nothing like our drawings, 

but even if we had drawn it right - it wouldn't have helped.

i remember 

my mom did home daycare.

at lunch hour i would walk home with the school-aged kids.

we'd have lunch.

then it was time for the dance party.

in the living room, with the toddlers.

then back to school.

what are some of your fun, silly, crazy childhood memories?

were you usually the instigator or was there someone else?

do you still do crazy, fun things like this sometimes?

i still have dance parties.. usually with my kids.

sometimes by myself...  i can't help it. 

the music makes me.

The Instigator and his baby sister.

i think he's already thinking up ideas to get her to do.

we match and my dad matches the chair - 

look, where does his shirt end and the chair begin?

Fort York.  

i was 8.  Instigator was 10.

i believe this was the trip where we also made it look like he was shot by a cannon.

You can check out my brother, The Instigator, at www.upstandingcomedy.ca