Oh, to be small enough to fit in a wagon!
The Christmas I was 8 was truly great! Santa brought a Kid Sister doll (My Buddy's friend), an amazing ballerina costume complete with a tutu, and my very own metal Radio Flyer. There's this really great picture that my mom took of my brother and me on Christmas day. We're at the bottom of the driveway heading to Palm Bay Elementary so that Alias could try out his new basketball on the courts. Alias is pulling me in the wago and I'm wearing hot pink sunglasses (a Christmas gift from Alias). I wish I could post that picture on my site, but I don't have a scanner. Instead, you will have to look at these little kids (who look nothing like my brother and me).
Yesterday I was over at the Lambs' house and we were watching the Tony Danza Show. (Can you believe that Tony Macelli now has his own morning talk show?) On the show were two little 8 year old boys who made over $700 selling lemonade. They used their profits to buy Radio Flyers for a children's wing at a hospital so that the patients could get wheeled to their X-Ray sites and other places in a wagon instead of a wheelchair. Their story, of course, brought tears to my eyes. And then I was reminded of my very own Radio Flyer.
I think that Alias probably only pulled me in the wagon about 3-5 times. It really wasn't a mode of transportation for me; instead it was key in my weekend adventures. My Radio Flyer was pretty much the best thing...EVER. On Saturdays, after watching a couple of cartoons and Saved By the Bell, I would use my wagon for one of three activities. The activity that I used my wagon for the most was no doubt collecting rocks. I am proud to announce that I was a serious rock collector (and even won first place in a nonfiction essay contest in the 11th grade about my rock collecting). I would load up the Radio Flyer with the tools I needed to scout for rocks to add to my vast collection: the R volume of the Wonderful World of Disney encylopedia opened up to "Rocks and Minerals" so that I could identify my discoveries and a little hammer that I used to burst open the rocks I'd find to see if there were any sparkles inside. Also in the wagon went Goldfish crackers and an Ecto Cooler box drink for my afternoon snack. With my wagon fully loaded, I pull it two doors down to the small baptist church with a circular dirt drive (which was FULL of rocks). Sometimes my best friend, Selina Lugtu, from across the street would see me out scouting for rocks and would ride her bike over. Selina was really cool. She was from the Philapines and had super straight black hair that I loved. She also had a much older brother and sister who were WAY cool. I always liked spending the night at her house because she always had tons of soda and junk food (something that I didn't have growing up). Her brother, Charlie, also had a Nintendo long before Alias and I got one, so I loved to watch him play. Selina and I would use the knobs on her bed posts as microphones and we'd sing songs. I sang the song from Kids Incoprorated and she'd sing Madonna songs. Her older sister, Trisha, told us that french kissing was called "boshy kissing." We had matching criss corss shoes (hard to explain). I once told her two very crazy things: 1. when we were getting ready to go to church during some fall month, I told her not to wear white shoes because it was against the law (I grew up hearing that you can't wear white shoes past Labor Day) and 2. George Michael sings Christian music because of the song "Faith." I hope she doesn't remember me for the crazy things I told her. We once formed a club called The Flamingo Kids (my mom used to love flamingos) and we didn't want another girl in the neighborhood, Jennifer, to join. Jennifer was mean to us. Sadly, Selina moved away the summer before the 4th grade. We wrote each other a few times that first year she was away and then we lost contact. I miss her. She was my very first best friend and I still think of her when May 4th rolls around (her birthday).
Back to the wagon stories. Another wagon activity that I would do was to pull my wagon in my front yard and sit there as I wrote in my diary with ballet slippers on the cover. I used to write about the first boy I ever had a crush on, Bryan (with a Y) Barone. He was a year ahead of me and he had a tail (not a mullet, but a tail). I had a crush on him from first through fifth grades! Then he went off to junior high. We were reunited as physics lab partners when I was a junior and he was a senior. We weren't lab partners for long though; his girlfriend, Molly, transfered into our class and then I got stuck with Richard Skeet (who sadly died in a car crash on the morning of his graduation).
The last wagon activity was: I'd load up my baby doll, who I named Bailey after my cousin. I got Bailey the Christmas I was 4, along with the Barbie Dream House and the whole Western Wear Barbie, Ken, Skipper, and horses. I loved Bailey the most. She is packed away safely as I write this. I even had a diaper bag that I'd load up with her plastic bottles of milk and orange juice in the wagon. I'd wheel that wagon up and down the street for hours.
Every kid deserves a Radio Flyer. I wish I still had mine. I don't like the new plastic ones. When/If I have children, each child will have his/her OWN Radio Flyer.
Yesterday I was over at the Lambs' house and we were watching the Tony Danza Show. (Can you believe that Tony Macelli now has his own morning talk show?) On the show were two little 8 year old boys who made over $700 selling lemonade. They used their profits to buy Radio Flyers for a children's wing at a hospital so that the patients could get wheeled to their X-Ray sites and other places in a wagon instead of a wheelchair. Their story, of course, brought tears to my eyes. And then I was reminded of my very own Radio Flyer.
I think that Alias probably only pulled me in the wagon about 3-5 times. It really wasn't a mode of transportation for me; instead it was key in my weekend adventures. My Radio Flyer was pretty much the best thing...EVER. On Saturdays, after watching a couple of cartoons and Saved By the Bell, I would use my wagon for one of three activities. The activity that I used my wagon for the most was no doubt collecting rocks. I am proud to announce that I was a serious rock collector (and even won first place in a nonfiction essay contest in the 11th grade about my rock collecting). I would load up the Radio Flyer with the tools I needed to scout for rocks to add to my vast collection: the R volume of the Wonderful World of Disney encylopedia opened up to "Rocks and Minerals" so that I could identify my discoveries and a little hammer that I used to burst open the rocks I'd find to see if there were any sparkles inside. Also in the wagon went Goldfish crackers and an Ecto Cooler box drink for my afternoon snack. With my wagon fully loaded, I pull it two doors down to the small baptist church with a circular dirt drive (which was FULL of rocks). Sometimes my best friend, Selina Lugtu, from across the street would see me out scouting for rocks and would ride her bike over. Selina was really cool. She was from the Philapines and had super straight black hair that I loved. She also had a much older brother and sister who were WAY cool. I always liked spending the night at her house because she always had tons of soda and junk food (something that I didn't have growing up). Her brother, Charlie, also had a Nintendo long before Alias and I got one, so I loved to watch him play. Selina and I would use the knobs on her bed posts as microphones and we'd sing songs. I sang the song from Kids Incoprorated and she'd sing Madonna songs. Her older sister, Trisha, told us that french kissing was called "boshy kissing." We had matching criss corss shoes (hard to explain). I once told her two very crazy things: 1. when we were getting ready to go to church during some fall month, I told her not to wear white shoes because it was against the law (I grew up hearing that you can't wear white shoes past Labor Day) and 2. George Michael sings Christian music because of the song "Faith." I hope she doesn't remember me for the crazy things I told her. We once formed a club called The Flamingo Kids (my mom used to love flamingos) and we didn't want another girl in the neighborhood, Jennifer, to join. Jennifer was mean to us. Sadly, Selina moved away the summer before the 4th grade. We wrote each other a few times that first year she was away and then we lost contact. I miss her. She was my very first best friend and I still think of her when May 4th rolls around (her birthday).
Back to the wagon stories. Another wagon activity that I would do was to pull my wagon in my front yard and sit there as I wrote in my diary with ballet slippers on the cover. I used to write about the first boy I ever had a crush on, Bryan (with a Y) Barone. He was a year ahead of me and he had a tail (not a mullet, but a tail). I had a crush on him from first through fifth grades! Then he went off to junior high. We were reunited as physics lab partners when I was a junior and he was a senior. We weren't lab partners for long though; his girlfriend, Molly, transfered into our class and then I got stuck with Richard Skeet (who sadly died in a car crash on the morning of his graduation).
The last wagon activity was: I'd load up my baby doll, who I named Bailey after my cousin. I got Bailey the Christmas I was 4, along with the Barbie Dream House and the whole Western Wear Barbie, Ken, Skipper, and horses. I loved Bailey the most. She is packed away safely as I write this. I even had a diaper bag that I'd load up with her plastic bottles of milk and orange juice in the wagon. I'd wheel that wagon up and down the street for hours.
Every kid deserves a Radio Flyer. I wish I still had mine. I don't like the new plastic ones. When/If I have children, each child will have his/her OWN Radio Flyer.
posted by alisa beth at 4:45 PM
1 Comments:
"Every kid deserves a Radio Flyer."
Agreed.
Matt(who loved reading this post)
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