Imagine the smugness. My Mom received a phone call one Saturday afternoon and from her excitement and a few verbal cues, I immediately picked up on the nature of the call. Perhaps a month prior, I had entered a contest at the Burger King in Beavercreek where we were charged with creating a drawing featuring the Burger King king which promoted the proliferation of dental hygeine. In other words, how to not make your teeth rot despite eating lots of junk at places like Burger King.
Even today, I find my drawing inventive. It covered as many aspects as possible in preventing tooth decay, showing the King brushing his teeth, tossing out his candy and junk food, getting ready to eat fresh fruit, and one of his minions pointing the way to the dentist.
This is the best I could do to capture the drawing. The original was lost in the infamous ‘loan Christi my stories and never get them back’ fiasco
So after my Mom hung up the phone, she excitedly told me that I had won the bike – to which I smugly replied “I know.” I did my best to keep my cool and not show any emotion about the victory. I must have felt that I was so freakin’ cool that news of this nature simply couldn’t arouse me to any emotion even approaching happiness. I went about my drab and miserable existence in the midst of the awkward age, claiming my bike at Burger King, taking it home, and even attending an awards luncheon for winners from all of the local BK units, without so much as cracking a smile.
Claiming the new Space Invaders bike at Burger King
Getting ready to load it up into our Volkswagon Rabbit
Proudly (?) displaying my drawing amidst those of my colleagues
My Dad reminded me that I had come into some good fortune in the early parts of 1981 – winning the bike and winning the Young Authors Award. His message was that the sky was the limit for me if I have the proper attitude. These days I’ve learned how to fake it.
In an attempt to steal my thunder, Denise dressed up as a cowgirl for no apparent reason
I think when you were that age, you really wanted to be an adult. You expected no less than for others to treat you like an adult and you didn’t let yourself just enjoy being a little boy. Sad now that you look back at that, but at the time your thoughts and hobbies were unique and quite different than the average little boy. I think deep down you were excited, but on the surface you didn’t want the childish dream side of you to show. Wow, I’m really getting deep on you. Anyway, I think you turned out pretty good and you’re still learning to handle your emotions, and you still have different ambitions than others. But that’s what makes you BRAD, and I love you. Just keep learning things about yourself and your surroundings and it really makes getting up each day worthwhile. Keep up the writing, keep up the traveling, and keep up making family important to you. You’re a great guy!
Bev
May 24th, 2008