re: What was something you really wanted to do as a young kid that never happened?

When I was very young, I visited my aunt and uncle in Florida who had a pool at their house. It was awesome! My 7 year old mind couldn’t believe the awesomeness of having a pool at your house!

I decided that we needed a pool at our house, too. It seemed so simple to me - just dig a big hole in the back yard. I was so excited about it and I just knew I’d be the hero of the family when they saw that I had dug a pool in our own big back yard.

For several days in a row, I starting digging that hole. I was stealthy about it, not because I was worried, but simply that I wanted it to be a big surprise. I covered the hole with a tarp from the shed and I told everybody that I was ‘camping’.

(“Camping” in my 1970’s child world was a common activity. It involved doing stuff outside and resting under an old sheet held up by sticks or any other useful object.)

Well, it was a lot harder than I had imagined. The ground was very hard, and I was very shocked at how little I had accomplished with so much work. I couldn’t say now with any accuracy how big that hole had gotten, but it wasn’t small. In my child’s mind, it was huge. Probably about 10 feet by 5 feet with a depth ranging from 1-3 feet. It created a sizeable mound of dirt.

After 3 days, I decided to “take a break”, and I promptly moved on to some other things of interest. Probably cartoons.

But I started to worry. It started to dawn on my mind that soon Dad was going to have to cut the grass and maybe he wasn’t gonna like this big pile of dirt and this massive hole in the yard.

Right about that time, Mama looked out in the back yard and saw that my “camping tarp” was still out there. She told me to put the tarp back in the shed, but she could see from my expression that something was wrong. I never have had a good poker face.

She asked urgently, “What’s under there?”, in an inquisitive tone that grew angrier with each syllable. I knew the gig was up even as I tried to fake the enthusiasm with which I had started the project. I announced, “I dug a pool!”

Mama heard those words and her face showed relief. I could read her thoughts, “Oh, is that all!” She probably thought I had killed the neighbor’s dog or something. It’s hard to imagine all of the possibilities of a 7 year old boy with something large to hide under a tarp.

She said, “You did?!”, with that tone of parental dismissiveness that 7 year olds are fully cognizant of. With a sense of hurt pride, I said, “Yes. It’s not finished yet, but I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Mama went with me outside to take a look, thinking she’d get a good chuckle out of this childhood imaginarium. At first I was excited to see her reaction as pride swelled in my 7 year old chest. She just stood there, mouth opened and eyes wide.

In a split second, I knew it was not a good shock, but bad. How bad? I waited.

“Oh, Jimmy!!!!” It was real bad.

When Daddy got home, I got a spanking.

Still, it was worth it. First of all, the spanking was very light. I’d had much worse. But I could tell that my Dad was actually impressed. He helped me fill in the hole and kept saying how I was very good with a shovel.

quote:

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always wanted to go to astroworld

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I miss that place!!!

My dad to tell me he was proud of me and a genuine look of happiness in my accomplishments. Never happened. Even when I joined the Marines and got back from a deployment, he was pretty meh about all of it. To this day, I can’t recall a time he’s ever told me he was proud.

Own a mini bike.

I wanted to find the gray M&M.
Also wanted to go to universal studios. Still do.

I wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail.
When I got to the point where I had the wherewithal and the free time to do it i got distracted by female wiles and getting wasted. Now I’m in my 50’s and while my body could probably do it the time it would take is something I do not have

Looks like she should still be his goal.

The Grand Prize Game on the Bozo Show.

I would have nailed it in all 5 buckets. I'm convinced of it.

Your pool story reminds me of my cousin Jacob and I building a 3 story club house ...using my grandfather's shed supplies and uncle's work supplies. They were pissed. Our clubhouse didn't last long...