Impeccable Behavior!

I am confident that if my mother or father were asked about my behavior as a child, they would claim without any hesitation that as far as they were aware I was their perfectly behaved son, and in my humble opinion I would have to agree.

I remember a few times where I may have misbehaved, but for the most part I was a very obedient child who spent a good part of my life trying to find answers to life’s greatest curiosities. Activities pursued in the spirit of having fun or experimenting with the various challenges I had an urge to follow couldn’t possibly be construed as misbehaving!

For example, I remember very distinctly when we were living in Afton, Wyoming, and my mom took my sister Connie, me, and a cousin or two with her to town. My parents had a 1951 Ford with a stick shift, and on this particular day Mom parked on Main Street, ran her errand, leaving the key in the ignition. I saw the key, and the sight of it instantly triggered my curiosity about what it was like to drive, so I climbed into the front seat, put my hands on the steering wheel, and turned the key. Mom had left the car in reverse so when I turned the key the car started and shot across Main Street and stopped underneath a parked semitruck. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and I got away with a scolding. Again, it was not misbehaving but simply me activating my curiosity.

I can imagine what the readers of this story are thinking. Earlier I mentioned that I was a near perfect boy in my parents’ eyes and even after admitting my actions in this near tragedy I am able to keep my record of perfection intact. You see I was only four years old, so I was well within the non-misbehavior accountability age.

I remember another interesting behavior that could have gotten me into trouble, but my parents never found out about it until I was married and had kids of my own and I confessed what I had done. When mom found out she was surprised that her “near perfect son” had done such a thing, but let me once again reinforce the nexus of this paper, I was curious, so it doesn’t count as misbehavior.

The Belnap family lived in the house west of my parent’s home in Salt Lake City. Their roof was within six or seven feet of ours, close by any standard. One day no one was home at my house or the Belnap’s, so I decided to climb up on our roof. As part of my roof top wandering, I just happened to walk to the edge, and I looked closely at the distance between the two roofs. Once again, my curious nature got the best of me, and I stood there pondering, “Could I jump from our roof onto the neighbor’s roof?” Carefully I made a mental calculation and decided that I could make the jump, so I backed up to get a running start and when I got to the edge I took a flying leap and landed safely on the other roof. I was proud of myself and strutted around the Belnap roof for a few minutes celebrating my accomplishment. Of course, I had to get back, so I repeated the process going the other direction. Piece of cake, right?

After mastering this skill, I decided to invite a few friends to try it and see if they could also make the jump and enjoy the same exhilaration that I felt from doing something scary. According to my memory I never once thought about what would happen if someone missed the other roof. I guess I just supposed that if someone fell, they would be a wimp and it would be their bad luck. I know this sounds callous but when you are a kid you don’t think or worry about failing and if an unexpected obstacle gets in your way you just navigate around it. It’s just the way boys my age lived life.

So, simplifying my story about my childhood behavior is easy. I lived a dream life comprised of many adventures filled with curiosity and mingled with a lot of imagination. It was perfect for me.

I feel sorry for kids today, stuck on their video games and cell phones. I don’t think these tech tools can give the same thrill that provided me with such perfect fun and enjoyment. It makes me sad to know what kids today are missing. I’m forever grateful I had a childhood where I could act on my curiosity and take chances, what a treat!