Day 26 NaBloWriMo Memory Lane

I thought I'd take you on a trip down memory lane.

I only have one sibling, my brother, Rob. He's so going to fuss at me after he reads my blog. Maybe I'll be lucky and he'll miss this post. He's always saying I share TMI. The joys of having a sister, yes? (And I know I’m in big trouble, because YES, I’m posting childhood pictures. Hehe. Below picture is when I was baby. Rob is holding me. Awww. Of course, Mom would tell the story of how I was a quiet baby until she’d suddenly hear me cry and know Rob left his teeth marks on my fingers. That’s a brother’s love for you!)
















Ok, so on to the childhood story. Rob and I used to fight every.single.day. In fact, I specifically remember the first time we didn't fight. We were living on Green Acres Road (yes, that was the name of my early childhood street). We were sitting at the kitchen table and we actually had a lengthy conversation about NOT fighting that day. We were amazed by the fact. Funny how memories like that stick in your mind.


















Sorry, I digressed, that wasn't the memory I meant to share. I could share the memory of when I left the dent on Rob's forehead, but nooooo, let's not go there. AH, yes, here's a good one:
















Rob and I used to love playing Photon. Do you know that game? Where the kids put on these heavy helmets and equipment around your body. You were given a laser tag gun and had to hit someone on the helmet or center of the chest equipment with the beam. You'd walk down a ramp, neon lights would start to flash, eerie music wrapped around the room and the smell of fake fog filtered through... a countdown 5.4.3.2.1 and dash off to hunt the opponents through a dark labyrinth. When you laser zapped someone, a cool sound went off in your helmet and the opponent had a red light on them. Rob and I were always on the same team. I have to admit; we knew how to work the maze. Rob was always a great strategist.















I forgot to mention something about Photon. It was expensive! We were young teens and didn't have much for money. Yet we LOVED that game. One weekend we really wanted to play, but our parents didn't want to hear about how much it cost.

Rob pulled me aside and whispered, "Watch this!" He had that "look" in his eye, you know, mischief! He grabbed a jar of coins and said, "Follow my lead." He went to the kitchen table, where our parents were sitting... shook the jar to empty out a bunch of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. He started to pick them up, one by one.. counting them…slowly counting... I did the same. We did this for a few minutes and Rob said, "We might have enough for Photon. Keep counting."

There was a LOT of coins to count. Then I heard Dad say, "Oh for Pete's Sake, just take the money and GO!" He held two twenties in his hand. Rob grabbed the cash and I was in TOTAL AMAZEMENT. I did the "hands in the air" to him.

Of course, many years later, I told my parents about it and Mom said, "I KNEW we were being played. But your Dad caved." Too funny.





















Ahhh, one more quick trip, if you don't mind. And when I say, "trip" I do mean it.

One time while playing Photon...... just keep in mind that it was almost totally dark except for the neon lights. I was running fast, trying to get away from someone chasing me in the maze. I was looking forward, but didn't see the waist high block in front of me. I ran straight into it.

All I remember was flipping and then thinking, "Can I feel everything?" My brother was at my side, yelling, asking if I was OK. I remember wondering why he looked so concerned. Rob took me to the center of the maze where he told me to stay there (it was a safe area in the game) and repeatedly came back to me to make sure I was OK. I didn't think anything of it until I later overheard someone saying, "Did you see that girl? She flipped upside down and landed on her neck!"

Then I remembered where I was and how far Rob had been ahead of me and how fast he had to move through the maze to get to me, to make sure I was OK... and how he was always checking on me. That's my brother for you.

So, Rob, if you DO read this, Love Ya! No matter how often we did the sibling rivalry thing, I couldn’t ask for a better brother!