I had a fun weekend this past weekend. After an exhausting work week with fast approaching deadlines and … special clients =), it was nice to have some time to be with friends, and family, who desire nothing of me apart from love.Saturday we got to hang out with some friends who have a little girl, who has in the last year has become Haven’s best friend. It makes me happy to see how much fun they have together, showing off their ABC’s, 123’s, songs, jumping skills, and just being kids. We taught them how to play Hide & Seek, which was an epic fail as they couldn’t stay hidden as when one would declare “Here I come!” the other would answer back “I’m right here!”. It was funny to say the least. I hope they and the other rugrats around them are friends for a long time.
Sunday we went to a birthday party of the little girl of some long lost friends, Sam and Rob, of whom we recently got back in touch with. I think I had a better time at the party then my 2 children. It was great to reconnect with them and a bunch of others who I’ve missed. Rob and I were childhood friends. I spent many of summers at his house during break from school. The Forests were like my other family. They had the biggest family I had ever known of at the time, with 6 kids, which made it easier to find people to play baseball with. =) I would stay over weeks at a time and would occasionally phone home to let my mother know I was still alive when Janet (Rob’s mother) would ask me to. I would go to their family functions and trips, and they introduced me to cinnamon toast (the real stuff, not the cereal =P)! Janet even tried to force feed me foods I hated (cough broccoli), unfortunately that didn’t go over that well, and she never tried again. At times I was the voice of reason between Rob and his mother, and would coerce & help Rob to do chores for money. I think we were saving up to buy something cool. Possibly a radio controlled plane or something as we both wanted to be air force pilots (obviously didn't happen =P). And now that I think of it, I don’t think I ever got my cut. The Forests were my first experience with homeschoolers. I remember thinking it was so cool that they didn’t have to go to public school, and had tried to get my mother to let me go check it out a couple times, but she didn’t buy into it. My second experience with homeschoolers was with my lovely wife and her sister, who I don’t think had a similar experience.
The Forests also lived in the largest house I had seen at the time, a large log cabin in the woods, which they had built themselves. I remember I was dropped off at the bottom of their development a few times in the winter as it was “treacherous” to drive up their roads in the snow. It seemed like a long haul, but it was all worth the fun I would have when I got there. We used to have large capture the flag games in the woods that surrounded their house. Before we got caught and reprimanded, we used to tie our captors up to trees in our jail area. They were also my first experience with foster care. They fostered a number of kids when I was there, which was something I never knew about. I was there so much, that it was sad for me some times to see them leave. They even took me in for a few weeks when times were rough at home, and I needed a place to stay. The great thing is that even after all their kids have grown up and left they are still caring for foster kids, and looking to adopt.
It’s funny because even before this party, and before we got back in touch with these friends, I was thinking about writing a post like Billy Corgan’s “I want my band back” ad in the Chicago Tribune, but called “I want my Forests back”. I learned a lot from the Forests growing up. I learned that I love big families, no matter how dysfunctional it can be at times, they are always there for you. I learned that we aren’t here to just care for ourselves, but for others. I learned that we can do so much more than we think we can, no matter how difficult we think life can be. I’ve learned that there is more to life than fame and fortune, and that there’s nothing that can take that realization away. I thank God that I was able to grow up in a “safe” environment. I know many who haven’t had the same, and have fallen to the wayside, and have to make bigger decisions then they should ever have at those ages. I thank God for my family, and hope my children have Forest families in their life that can help them grow, and learn when they feel their mother and I just don’t get it.
Many thanks to the Forest clan for putting up with and taking care of me for so many years; I hope that we can continue to be in each other lives.
Cheers to Childhood Friends.
