These are the thoughts of a Texas transplant in West Michigan who makes his living as a newspaper reporter by evening, and a struggling novelist by day.

Monday, August 04, 2008

a blast from the past

i was talking to my sister last week about our dad and our aunt who's sick and a bunch of other stuff. basically reminiscening about life.

all of a sudden she says, "do you remember billy beaver?"

i hadn't heard that name in ages, more than a decade, i'd say. but i immediately knew who billy beaver was. i chuckled as tons of memories came flooding back.

when i was about 18 or 19, i created a slew of characters for my sister linda who's several years younger than me i don't remember why but i did. i guess it's living at the ranch, not much to do in terms of entertainment, i had my vision loss and didn't go out much and i had a younger sister.

so one day or night, i came up with billy beaver, who was a mischievous, rambunctious little animal. he had friends (but i can't recall their names now). he and his friends would get into trouble and have adventures. it was a lot of fun.

linda'd go to bed early since she was a kid. i'd say my goodnight and then sit by the edge of the bed and tell her a bedtime story pretty much. they were tales of billy and his buds. i'd come up with the story on the spot and i'd go with it. i even had a voice for billy; it was a nasal voice. i can't duplicate it anymore. with age, my voice has changed. still i remember the voice.

those were good times, times when life was pretty simple, no disease or we were all young, not many worries (except me getting booted from college for a semester for being bad). i liked those times. if we can't go back, then at least we've got the memories to help us along and smile when we need to remember.