At least they thought it was funny, Installment # 2

So I was looking at an empty cardboard roll from the paper towels in the kitchen and I thought of a funny story from when I was a kid.

Since I was a pretty small child, shocker...sorry Bella... my brother Caleb often thought it was entertaining to use that to his advantage in his never-ending urge to come up with things people have never tried before. Now, let me say that today my brother is an AMAZING Daddy and husband. I adore him and admire him in so many ways. Hands down, he is just one of the all around greatest people that I know. He was a great kid as well, but anytime you have a child with an imagination as incredible as Caleb's is you are bound to have some stories.

Most of the time I think he just wanted to see what would happen if he tried something out. Of course, I was the ideal guinea pig for the test runs. We played many rounds of "Let's see if Emily can fit in this" and "Let's find out if Emily can get out of the tree if I take the ladder away". But once Caleb thought it would be funny to see find out just how far Emily could fly.

There I stood on the top of our brick retaining wall, about 4 ft. up off the ground. I waited in innocence dressed in my favorite splatter-painted sweat suit as Caleb stood across the yard from me with a 6 ft. long cardboard tube that had come from a roll of fabric my Mom had in the garage. Now, this thing was not flimsy like the ones your toilet paper comes on. We are talking 1/2 thick cardboard here. I knew he was going to do something. Looking back I can't see why I thought that this was a great idea as well. Suddenly, his charge began. He had his eye on the target which I soon realized was indeed my 9 year old little belly. Next thing I know I was sent flying through the air, backwards off the wall.

This would be a good time to mention that one of the stupidest pieces of landscaping are those huge sticker bushes that do nothing but sit around and have inch long needles of death just waiting to catch some kid by surprise. I am sure they are called something very fancy but I have a better name for them. I mean, Seriously.

Needless to say, my adventure through the air accompanied by the 4 ft. drop off came to a painful end in our neighbors bushes, which yes...were a nice, very well grown patch of Hell Bushes. My stomach was on fire and apparently there had been a convorsation between the devil thorns, my butt and my thighs at which it was decided that they should all meet. At least Caleb thought it was funny...