Friend From the Past

Amanda is in a "story stage" right now and has been for the past several months.  Almost anytime there is silence, she asks, "Daddy, tell me a story."  The story cannot be one I read, found on the Internet or heard somebody else tell...it has to be a story from when I was a kid.  Animal stories and stories from times I got in trouble are the most popular right now.

Last night, as I was putting Amanda into bed laying there praying with her and talking to her before she went to sleep, she asked for another story.  I'm kinda out of animal stories (since it seems I have told a million of them), but since Amanda had been riding her bike last evening, she asked for a bike riding story. I already told "The Great Wipeout" story (my first big "encounter" with a mailbox when I was first learning to ride my bike), so I told a story about riding down a HUGE hill with my friend Matt when we were in Jr. High.  We were at a park called Star's Cave and Matt knew of a huge hill in the woods.  We rode/pushed our bikes to the spot, walked our bikes up the hill and rode down the path like madmen.  If I remember correctly, Matt had hand brakes on his bike (or maybe it was his brother's bike that I was riding), but somebody's brakes went out right near the bottom.  Fortunately whoever it was got close enough to the bottom of the hill before the brake failure so nobody met a tree up close and personal.

I don't think I've seen Matt since 1990-91.  I graduated high school in 1987 and Matt graduated in 1988.  We spent a good deal of time together in Jr. High and High School and were good friends.  It has been a few years since we've corresponded...I think exchanging Christmas newsletters on and off through the years and maybe a note or e-mail here and there.  You will never guess who I got a letter from when Brooke checked the mail today.  OK, since you are reading this, you've probably figured out it was from Matt.  I just thought it was pretty cool timing...I'll have to sit down and send him an e-mail tonight.  It's good to hear from a friend from the past.

- Rob