Higher

       I have decided that I like blogging.  I like laughing at the past (or even the present) every now and then.  I try not to take things too seriously.  It's ok if you get a little chuckle out of the blog too.

            My town (village) had a population of less than 1000, now, it’s less than 700. No stoplights in the whole county. It was 60 miles and over 3 mountains to the nearest McDonalds, mall, stoplight or Movie Theater. Seriously. My graduating class had less than 75 people; 2 other Mormons. This is the hick town I grew up in. Every Friday night of my life since birth was spent at a football or basketball game. All summer was spent messing under the bleachers while my dad played softball. I now loathe sports. My wife would later describe a visit to my town like going back in time 20 years.
    
            I had to keep busy somehow. By 10th grade I had been marching with the High School band for 4 years. I joined chorus and glee club that year. Concert band, jazz band and track also occupied my time. I also was manager for the basketball team, bet you can guess why. I graduated 3rd in my class only because PE classes we weighted as much as my college prep classes. I was very bitter.
     
            I spent many evenings with my bff, Laura. We would speed walk up and down the sidewalk of town. I loved being with her so much. She was like the sister I always wanted. We would talk about how “stressed” we were with school and the future. She had a boyfriend, for some reason he never seemed jealous of the time we spent together.

         Once when I was about 14, I decided to host a fireside at my house. I thought we should really have it by a fire. So, I got a fire ready in the corner of the garden. All 10 youth showed up. I shared some uplifting story and we sang Come Come ye Saints by the fire. Maybe another youth spoke. Then it got too chilly and the party moved inside. I had a VHS movie I had rented from the video place uptown and thought maybe we could put that in while we had refreshments. My dad was watching with us, I think my mom was in the kitchen. The movie was Nuns on the Run. I had watched it once during the week. I remember my dad asking if the movie was ok, and I said I that I didn’t remember any bad words.
             Then came the part when the men posing as nuns had to run from the cops.  They ran through a group of nuns.  Showering nuns.  Fully nude showering nuns, during a youth fireside with both young men and young women present.  My cousin Jake nearly jumped out of mom's old rocker gawking at the scene. I did not get what was going on.  They were not having sex or anything. It was just topless women.  Men could go topless, so what was the big deal?  Eventually dad got off  his butt to fast forward the scene.  Jake yelled at him to not block his view.  Dad "accidentally" hit the rewind button.  I think I must have been embarrassed at some level, but mostly, I was confused.