big wheels and firetrucks
the past few weeks i've been going to bed super early. like 11pm. i've always considered myself to be quite the night owl, so i couldn't figure this out. maybe i'm just getting old. but after a rainy weekend full of sleeping, i think i'm back to my night owl self. so i can stay up and tell stories of when i was young.
for those who don't know, i was born in portland, oregon. i lived there for the first year of my life and don't remember any of it. the furthest back i can remember is living in an apartment in bloomington. i remember hiding under a little floor trampoline and tearing my diaper. there was also the time where i found a rusty sheet of metal in the bushes and used it as a seat attachment on my little trike, that cut me up good. hello tetanus shot. but most of my memories from then involve my friend chris.
chris was my age. we always got together, with our parents permission and supervision, to play. his favorite toy was a shiny red fire truck. he'd drive it around and make siren noises. while he put out fires, i played with my favorite toy, a tire. yes, a big toy tire. it probably fell off some kids tonka truck. it may be cliche, but i found as much joy in this tire as man first had when inventing the wheel. we'd both cruise our respective toys round and round, until it was bedtime, which was even earlier than 11pm.
that playtime in the past may have been a glimpse into the future. chris still plays with emergency vehicles as he's an emt on ambulances. at least i think, i haven't talked to him in a while. and me, i work in advertising because i can make a tire seem like the greatest toy ever.