Totally Worth It

I was a pretty rule-abiding kid growing up. Getting into trouble never really held much appeal. I had some friends that loved to push the limits, though. My neighbor, Marcy, was one of those kids.

I spent the night at her house once and we decided to make her parents dinner. Marcy knew how to turn on the oven to cook our gourmet meal - which consisted of a plastic Sesame Street Big Bird. When the burning rubber aroma filled the house, Marcy's mom ran into the kitchen to see what was going on. I still remember her opening the oven door to the sight of a sagging Big Bird head and twisted, melting Big Bird body. It was gruesome and I was sent promptly home.

Another Marcy adventure involved another neighbor's house in the spring. They were out of town and Marcy was in charge of watering their garden for them. I went over to help her one afternoon. Her brother, Robby, tagged along and I'm guessing that if Robby was there, my brother, Mike, was there too. Given the natural state of the world as it relates to sibling relationships, there was some bickering going on.

The bickering turned into Marcy grabbing a snowball flower off a bush and throwing it at her brother, who grabbed another snowball flower and threw it back, resulting in a regular snowball fight. The puffs burst into a giant flower shower upon impact. Nothing sharp or cold to cause actual harm. The snowball fight ended only after every puff within reach of 6 and under kids had been removed from the bushes. The yard was littered with white flowers and we were all laughing hysterically at ourselves.

The neighbors weren't at all pleased when they returned home. We had to clean up their yard and apologize for our actions. But I got my first taste of thinking that it was totally worth it to get in trouble.