who's keepin score?

i recently saw a "great aunt" of mine... i guess that's what she is anyway,,, she's an old lady that used to babysit me while my dad was at work... that's all i know,,, and she's at all our family reunions...

anyway,, on with the story.. I saw her at a funeral.. we hugged and she made all the usual comments and asked all the usual questions:

"my your gettin tall!" (i'm 25 yrs old... i haven't grown any in probably 8 yrs)

"where you working?" "where do you live?" "are you still in school?"


you know,,, and then she started talking about when she used to keep me while my dad was working... as usual she brought up how everyday i would make a fort out of couch cushions and a card table and a blanket. and this monstrosity was parked right in front of the tv,,, so i could watch in peace..

and she talked about how i used to play cards with her husband... and then she got off on how smart i was as i kid,,, (i'm not bragging,,, i think i've lost a lot of that)....

anyhow,, what she said next was significant to me.... for one, because i had no recollection of the incident,,, and two, because i think it's amazing,,, and exactly something i would say,,,, then and now... i haven't changed a bit...


she said that, one day, we were sitting on the porch together. she was watching me play with my tonka trucks, or something of that sort. There was a blue jay flying around in the tree in front of us, occasionally stopping for as second and then hopping to another branch. Joanne said to me,,, (joanne is her name by the way),,, anyway, joanne said to me,

"look ryan, there's a blue jay in that tree over there."

I looked up from my toys long enough to catch sight of the thing,,

and told her, "looks like a bird to me",


i don't know why,, but i'm proud of that...

everyone sitting near us laughed at her story,, and i did as well..

why can't more childhood stories be like that,, something i can own up to...

usually they entail me running around in my underwear (if i was even wearing any) with a towel tied around my neck jumping off the couch pretending to be superman and eating hot dog weiners straight out of the refrigerator... and sharing them with the family dog.. (i've always loved dogs)..

anyhow.. thought i would share that.