Growing up with brothers is fun. We played a lot together. Yes, we fought and got on each others nerves, and made fun of each other; but for the most part I think we got along pretty good. Most of our days were spent outside. We didn’t have cell phones and Ipads to keep us occupied inside. Inside was boring so we rode bikes, played in the dirt, and made up our own games. And when we played, we played hard. But our days didn’t go without getting hurt. 

Get ready to laugh at these embarrassing stories.

Sam and the Stump – My whole family was at my grandparent’s house one day. It was nice so we were outside most of the day. Our favorite games to play were wiffle ball and croquet. My grandparents had a lot of trees in the yard and one was recently cut down. Not gone…just cut down. The ladies were sitting in the shade talking and the guys were throwing the football around. Every once in a while someone would yell, “Watch out for the stump!” My Granny was a nervous wreck about the stump and the football throwing. And rightfully so, someone threw Sam the football and he forgot all about it. BAM! He ran into the stump and fell over. He was ok, so we all laughed. Then someone yelled, “How did you miss the tree in the middle of the yard?” You see…the stump wasn’t just a stump. My Papa didn’t have time to get the tree all the way down before the family got to his house. The stump was waist high on Sam. Did I mention that he’s six foot one. That’s one hard stump to miss. 

Kelly and the Sign – Do you remember Opryland? It was theme park in Nashville, Tn. Before I tell you what happened, you need to know a little about my daddy. He is the fastest man I know. By fast I mean, he is out of the car before he even has the car in park. If you ever go anywhere with my daddy, don’t be slow or you’ll get left behind. Ok, now you will understand why I was in such a hurry. I was invited by a friend to Opryland. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to get there. I love riding rides. We had just arrived in the parking lot and like always, I jumped out of the van and started walking as fast as I could to get to the park. I soon realized that I was alone. I looked back for my friend and she was still at the van with her family. Apparently they park their car before they get out. Ha! I kept looking at them yelling for them to hurry up as I kept moving forward. They were also yelling something back at me but I was too far away to hear. By the time I heard, “Kelly…STOP!” It was too late. Right as I turned around….SMACK! I ran straight into a handicap parking sign. Right into the metal part, but only one part of my face. I got a really bad black eye. Yes…I got made fun of for the rest of the day and a few days after that. I still rode all the rides. 

Matt and the Church – We rode bikes a lot. We rode around the block of our house, to the store to get candy, even to our friends house to play. We were fortunate to live in a town where we could ride our bikes and be gone all day. As long as we were home by dark, we could go anywhere. We also had a church with a huge parking lot across the street from our house. That parking lot was our playground. We played chase, hide and seek, and other made up games. Matt had just gotten a new bike with gears. He wasn’t sure how to change his gear so he rode around all day learning the gears on the bike. He had to stop a few times because he’d make the chain fall off but eventually he got it. He was so proud of himself. He had gained enough courage to ride his bike and look down to see his gears change. I guess he too forgot that there was a huge brick church in the parking lot. A tire doesn’t make much noise when it hits brick, but a little boy sure can let out a scream when his head hits the brick. When his tire hit the church it slug him over his handlebars and he scraped his forehead on the brick. Sam yelled, “How do you miss a huge brick church, it doesn’t move?” Sam laughed, Matt cried and I got mad at Sam for laughing at Matt. 

Side note: Sam ran into the stump about a week after he laughed at Matt for running into the church. Karma! Maybe, who knows! 

Daddy and the Skateboard – I’d love to tell you the story about my Daddy and the skateboard but I can’t just yet. Remember, I told you in an Instagram story that I might be on a podcast soon. Well….I am happy to announce that I will be on a podcast called Thoughtful Moments. It will be released on September 26th. If you want to hear about Daddy and the skateboard…tune in September 26th.

I love my family. We have made some great memories together and I’m thankful that we are just as close or closer today.