Saturday, December 11, 2021
A memory from my childhood. When we were young, our parents made it a regular chore every Spring and Summer to clean the yard as a family. So this one Summer when I was about 5 years old, we were all out having a fun day in the sun, playing around in the yard after a good day of cleaning. I was kind of slow in learning how to climb trees but with a year, I was very good at it. So good that my Dad knew this, as he was proud how good I could climb, he would tell family, friends when he could….and used this to his advantage. This particular day, he hollered for us all to come to him. So we did, one by one my siblings and I gathered to him and when we all did he asked “I need one of you to help me” All of us said “I will! I can! I’ll do it” and he smiles and says “One of you has to climb a tree for me” well my siblings all stopped smiling and I said “I can!” My Dad smiles “Ok Just. Come here” So I did and followed him to a spot beside the house. “I need you to climb this tree” I looked at it and thought, so easy, this going to be an easy job for me. The tree was roughly 10-15 feet high. So I climbed it to the top. “Okay Dad, now what do you want me to do?” He walks away and says “Just hold on a second, I’ll be right back” So I did. Clung the the top of this tree, smiling, looking around as it was a warm sunny day…then all of a sudden the tree shook. I held on tighter, it shook again. So I looked down and there was my Father holding an axe and was swinging at the tree. “ Just hold on!” He yells. I was obviously upset and was telling him to stop. He didn’t, he just smiled and said “Almost done, hold on tight” and at the moment the tree finally gave way and it fell, but, it didnt just fall in any ol spot. It fell directly in a patch of wild berries bushes with plenty of thorns. I was mad, yelling at him getting up as I was a little bush kid just wearing my shorts only, scratched and betrayed. I looked at him laughing so hard, looked at my siblings who were nearby, they too were laughing and when I looked back at him laughing…I too began to laugh, wiping my tears at the same time. I asked him why he did that and he says “No reason. I just wanted too is all” It sounds messed up to do that to a five year old but it’s one of the best memories I have out out of many and if you know me, that’s where I got my mischievous humour from :)
