Chicken Slide

I know, it's been a long time since I wrote a decent blog. That last one was my bottom. I am here to redeem myself as a writer, to once again stretch my thinking muscles and communication skills. To dredge out my inner thoughts and make them understood. No, you're not supposed to write about your writing, but just call me avant-garde.

The title makes no sense unless you had seen the pictured structure when it had the missing piece. From the upper window of the right barn used to be an extension reaching to the ground like a chute. My big boys and Carly and I used to drive past this scene every Friday, and they named it the "chicken slide." I had to get a picture of it before they knock the whole thing over, but alas the chicken slide was already no more.

Carly was our next-door neighbor who homeschooled with us one year. Once a week we would drive out to "Fantastic Fridays," a co-op of sorts where the kids could take classes with other homeschoolers. Carly was a peach. Very sweet, adorable, and meek around me; a really great friend for the boys as she was good at, and loved sports (and other adventures). The "signal" to come out and play was the sound of the basketball thumping on the shared driveway between our houses. There was a hoop on Carly's garage.

Carly was such a cute girl, with shoulder length blonde hair, soft blue eyes, and a lovely smile. She was always dressed in boyish clothes and ready for anything. My guys spent their growing up years with her, and she was and is very dear to my heart.

The three of them had a club called the "King Tarantulas," and did lots of other crazy things. Once they dug a pretty large "fish pond" in Carly's back yard (her mom was a lot more laid back than me) which caused a lot of screeching late at night as two raccoons fought over the tasty morsels. They would have lemonade stands, and since we didn't get much traffic they would yell out, singing, "LEMONADE, LEMONADE, EVERYBODY'S THIRSTY FOR SOME LEMONADE!!" at passing cars.

Also, it was Carly and her sister who brought my sons to vacation Bible school one summer at a little church around the corner. Carly and Kelsey were so darling toting their little flowery-sewn covered Bibles. They went skipping off with my guys and, unbeknownst to me, the Gospel was preached. I was not a Christian then, and was horrified when my oldest child confided to me one night that he had prayed the sinner's prayer in that little church basement.

Now, of course, I am immensely grateful that Chris received the gift of Salvation early in his life, simply, as a child. As he put it, "I just thought I might not ever get another chance." He was right, you know. None of us knows exactly when the lights will go out. And it probably was easier back then; before the chicken slide was gone.