Deep In The Forrest

When you're a teenager, there is this little 'magical, electrical' feeling you get sometimes when you're excited about something that, in my own personal experience, just doesn't happen later in life, or at least not past the 20s. Maybe it's just me. Crushes and fun moments always felt that way though. Originally, I started this post yesterday to recognize "Remember Your First Kiss Day", but I got busy and didn't get to finish. So we'll still say that we are celebrating "First Kisses", and you get a fun story to boot. You see, during  High School, when we got our class rings, there was some sort of ritual about 'turning our class rings', which I believe I misunderstood. I thought it was that you turned your ring when you received your 'first kiss'. How I came to this conclusion, I am still not sure. Because in searching a bit about it on the internet, there is a 'ring turning tradition' but it has nothing to ...

I meant to post a little something for Easter Sunday, and I jarred my back while riding my motorcycle over the weekend, so I was mostly resting with heat and meds. My childhood years were spent being spoiled to so many family traditions that I guess I thought would never end, and as we grow up, we are forced to realize that "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (just as Robert Frost  tried to tell us). In those early years though, dying Easter eggs with my father on Saturday night (ahh the newspaper, the smell of vinegar, using Mom's cups, those little wire thingys, and mainly just Dad showing me how to do all this), helping with the cooking, and waking up to those baskets full of pretty eggs, candy and goodies was magic. We were always so distraught when we were dragged away from our Easter morning fun to attend the church service (which to us as kids seemed to drag on for hours). Once back home, it was time for the family to all meet there at my childhood home and eat dinner toge...