Since a couple people have been on the topic of childhood injuries and
traumas, I decided I'd add my own to the list. I was very lucky as a child;
nothing horrible ever happened to me like slicing my eyelid off (open,
off...it's all the same to me, Collin) or breaking any bones (I waited until I
was 16 to do that). I had stupid little things happen to me like being
scratched on the face by my great grandma's dog when I was 2 that left a red
sunburst-shaped scar on my face until I was about 13. Strangely enough, when I
was 5 or 6, a little girl that lived down the way from me kicked me in the face
when I told her I couldn't play with her and left the exact same scar on the
opposite cheek. They both lasted the same amount of time before fading.

About the same time as the "boot to the head", there was a woman that lived in
the end apartment from us. Her name was Mona & she had two little yappy dogs,
Sam & Fonzie. I loved those dogs and she would let me go with her when she
went walking them. One day she took me to the dump. Out apartment complex was
within walking distance and she liked to rummage through the garbage heaps &
see what hidden treasures she could find. I remember one time she brought
Derek & I a bunch of school books she found there. They were actually pretty
cool...there was a story inside one of them about a little pine tree who wanted
to be a gold Christmas tree & it always made me sad when I read it...but I
digress...

Anyway, Mona took me, Sam & Fonzie to the dump but to get into it, we had to
climb through a barbed wire fence. I had never seen barbed wire before, had no
idea how sharp it was. I thought I could just slip right through it and be on
my way to finding grand treasure. I bent over and stuck the top half of my
body between the strands. One barb caught my shirt and pulled it up over my
back as I moved forward. The other barbs sliced my skin right open. It hurt
like hell but I was so excited about visiting the dump and finding discarded
Barbies and Teddy Bears that I didn't want to ruin it by crying that I was hurt
& bleeding. After a while, though, I realized that there was nothing there but
garbage and my back was throbbing so I finally told Mona what had happened.
She rushed me home in a guilt-induced panic to my mother. I just remember
lying on my stomach in our big old recliner while she bandaged me up. I think
I even got ice cream that night.






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