Thursday, March 01, 2007

My Imaginary Town

When I was a little boy, I was rather infatuated with earth moving equipment and road construction. Back in 1987, a major water line was extended around our property, so I got to see large backhoes digging holes and moving dirt within close proximety. There was also a lot of bedrock in the ground (typically found in the area I grew up), so the construction crew had to do a lot of blasting. Just as they were ready to blast the ground, you'd hear a horn honk and then shortly there after, there'd be a large explosion that would rock the house. It was such a neat experience and it was fun watching it live and in person (of course, I was inside the house when they did all the blasting).

Then, six years later, the water line was extended across the road from our house. So again, I was able to witness much of the same work that went on years earlier. I've always enjoyed seeing this kind of work go on. When I was little, I was always thrilled to drive through a road construction project and see all of the big equipment around us as we drove by. And now that I am much older, I appreciate it even more because it is a sign of progress. I still enjoy driving through construction, unless it's on one of my usual routes; then it can be annoying. But no matter, I'm usually a patient person anyways.

My love of construction got me thinking of developing my "own" construction company when I was little. So I started thinking up all of these ideas and soon enough, my dream became a reality - in fantasy. At first the "headquarters" for my company was this black garbage bag in the woods. Yes, rather primitive, even for a kid. I knew that wasn't going to work, so I moved it to one of our storage buildings in the backyard. I started developing my own "network" of roads that I would maintain and "upgrade" as they needed it. I created my own road signs and posted them along the routes. I even made a business sign for my construction company and posted it outside of the storage shed on wooden stakes. I was having lots of fun in my own little made-up world. A lot of the roads that I developed weren't even on our property, since we lived on a rather small parcel of land. But our neighbors that owned the land didn't seem to care, so I went about my business. I would use the lawnmower to cut the grass along the roads to maintain them and if I'd find a low or uneven spot along the road, I'd start construction to "fix" the problem. Heck, I'd even post road construction signs and even planned detours if need be. I tell ya what, I tried to be as authentic as I could to the real thing. But I didn't really want too many people to know what I was doing. My parents and sisters knew what I was up to, but it kind of embarassed me when my friends or cousins would stop over for a "surprise" visit and see everything that I had going on. I guess I didn't want them to think I was weird, even though I was just a kid and only having some fun. But I still didn't let them stop me, and they never really made fun of me, either.

I even started developing my own "town" around our property. Houses sprang up along the "roads" that I maintained. A grocery store, retail store, a bank, and even a movie theatre all made up the businesses along my roads. Houses were being developed and I even started "selling" property to interested buyers. Of course, I was always dealing with imaginary people and there were never any buildings that came of this. But they were always in my mind and I knew exactly where these places were. I would even hold community events, such as a 4th of July celebration - complete with a parade, fireworks and all, a golf tournament, an alumni basketball tournament - with as many as 100 teams participating, and a community celebration, among others. I tell you what, I was never bored during summer vacation and made the most of my time.

I can't forget about the public school that was located within my "town," as well. It was a small, Kindergarten through 12th grade school that I would drive "bus" for. My bike was the school bus and I would usually just drop kids off after school (I never wanted to get up early just to pick up some imaginary kids - I wasn't that crazy). I would drive throughout my town and on all of my roads and drop kids off for the day. Even when I got a new bike, I would treat it as a new "school bus" as well. Once again, I was trying to be as authentic to the real thing, just as what happened with my real school. But I must admit, looking back on it now, I think sometimes I went a little too far in some of this stuff. But heck, I was just a kid. I was just having fun.

Even as winter came around, I acted more as a road commission than a construction company. I'd plow most of "roads" I maintained for the imaginary public. "Plowing" usually involved shoveling snow with a snow scoop and creating these huge mounds of snow along the roads. If we'd get a huge snow storm, it was hard to keep the roads plowed and eventually I ran out of room to store the snow. A few winters I remember giving up and just waiting for all the snow to melt. But the majority of the time, I'd keep things open. Gradually as I grew up, I'd cut back on my shoveling duties in the back yard. And even though I still do some shoveling in the backyard, it's not for the imaginary public like it used to. It's mainly now for the wild birds that come around in the winter to feed on the bird seed we put out. We also have a barel we burn papers and other burnables in year-round that is in the far corner of our property. Without those reasons, the backyard would probably be filled in with snow during the winter time.

I guess you could say I had a very creative imagination. But with most activities when you're a kid, you grow out of them. I remember a point where I said to myself, "you're getting too old for this." And from that point on, I didn't care to live in my imaginary world anymore. Besides, people would start thinking I'm insane if they still saw me posting road signs along my imaginary roads. Even today as an adult, I still walk through the backyard and remember certain spots where particular activities took place or where one of my roads had been. They are great memories I hold onto and ones that will live with me for along time.

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