Category: Words From My Inner Child Andy

Moe: What are you going to give your little brother for Christmas this year? 


Joe: I haven’t decided yet. 


Moe: What did you give him last year? 


Joe: The measles.

Hi everybody! It’s me, Andy, signing in again! I’m going to make this introduction short and sweet because Captain Serious said I could continue my story today. He’s actually going to be busy (more like lazy LOL) the next few days since he’s headed to see his sister’s family outside Nashville, TN for their annual holiday get together. So be prepared for some more great thoughts for the day this weekend as I’m in charge of looking for several Christmas-based ones to cover his blog until Tuesday. Oh, and by the way, I also hope you’ve liked my story so far, but if you haven’t gotten a chance to read the first chapter yet, here’s the link.

https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/10/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-1/

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 2

At first I thought I was just imagining I had hit something with my shovel. I mean after all there were plenty of small rocks I had come across already in my digging process that had made similar noises. But sure enough, after clearing away enough of the dirt, I discovered a large rectangular piece of metal that reminded me quite a bit of my next door neighbor’s outside entrance to their basement. It appeared to be about 4 feet wide and about the same in length.

It was definitely very corroded and I began to wonder if that’s all my buried treasure was going to end up being, just some rusty piece of metal that had lay dormant below the earth for years. But as I brushed away the last bit of dirt off the top of it, I noticed something else. There was a small bent piece of metal raised above the rest that looked a lot like a handle to a door.

I’d seen many movies previously in life where someone had discovered some hidden cave or secret passageway and it never seemed to turn out well for those who ever explored any of them. My heart was beating a mile a minute and every rational sense in me said to leave it alone and cover it back up with all that dirt lying around me in piles. But I didn’t, almost as if my right hand were on autopilot. 

My fingers clasped the cold raised piece of metal and pulled upward while I pondered the thought that it would probably be too heavy for me to lift. Ironically, it was just the opposite. It felt as if I had temporary super strength as I watched the large piece of tarnished looking metal fly straight up in the air and come to a rest against the huge rock wall behind it. A square of darkness was all that remained now in front of me and from what it looked like, several steps descending down into it.

My heart was still racing a mile a minute, but since nothing scary had flown out at me, I could feel it starting to calm down a little. As my fear subsided, anxious curiosity of what lay below me replaced it. I quickly glanced at my watch to see how much time had passed and saw it was only 3pm. I was grateful I still had two full hours to explore. At twelve years old, I really felt like I was a young Indiana Jones ready to take on his first true adventure.

Thankfully, I always carried one of those LED flashlights on my keychain so I knew I wouldn’t have to begin it in total darkness. I swiftly clicked it on as I took my first step downward. The gravel and dirt on the steps grinded beneath my shoes and echoed slightly into what I was descending upon. I moved my flashlight left and right with each step I took, counting them aloud as I proceeded. 

“1…”

“2…”

“3…”

“10…”

“15…”

It felt as if the steps were never going to end. I turned around to see the light from where I had entered and it was growing dimmer with each step.

“20…”

“30…”

“31…”

“32…”

“33… Whoa!!!”

I fell forward and landed on a cold surface realizing I had finally reached the bottom of whatever it was I had entered. Moving my flashlight around in front of me, I saw there was a large cavernous room made completely of an uneven white rock-like surface, which also appeared to be of the exact same dimensions as the huge boulder that lay right above it. I took my first footstep forward heading into the room when a number “1” abruptly began to glow in a purple light directly beneath my left foot. As I shined my flashlight onto the floor, I noticed the rest of the room appeared to be filled with many more numbers sitting in the center of various odd-shaped tiles. I decided to immediately try stepping on another one, an “8”, to see if it too would glow purple, which it did, much to my delight.

You would think a kid like me who loved Indiana Jones so much would have been a lot more cautious having watched all the perils he faced in each of his treasure hunts. But I wasn’t being that at all as I hurriedly stepped on a “19” directly to my right. This ended up creating so much of that purple light that my flashlight was no longer needed. After clicking it off, I glanced around me and saw lucky number “77” waiting nearby. As soon as my right foot came to a rest upon it, all of my delight rapidly turned to shock as a wall slammed down to the ground blocking my exit to the steps above.

And if things couldn’t have gotten any worse, they did as I watched in horror while each of the numbers I had stepped on suddenly began to extinguish one by one plunging the whole room back into complete darkness…and me into total fear…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

There are two muffins in an oven. One muffin turns to the other muffin and says, “Boy, it’s hot in here.” The other muffin says, “OH MY GOSH A TALKING MUFFIN!”

Yup, it’s me again, Andy! How’s it going everyone? Well Doodyhead decided to take another bunch of days off from writing in here again. This time it’s because he’s going to Chicago to see one of his friends (as if he really has any!) who lives there now. Anyways, I’m kind of excited because I get to pick out the thoughts for the day for the next couple of entries instead of Andrew. So I’m going to make sure each are aimed at appreciating kids everywhere just like me.

But in the meantime, what I’d like to do for today’s entry is start telling a story of my own creation. You see, creativity is so important and children often have that stifled by their parents, especially when they have a lot of problems like mine did. That’s why I’m so glad Andrew has allowed me to do things like this in his blog because there were many times in the past when I was more focused on pleasing my parents than being creative. So I hope you like this story that I’m about to begin. But if you don’t, then maybe you’re just a doodyhead too! 🙂

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 1

It was one of those days when I just wanted to be outside. The sky was blue and there weren’t any clouds to be seen. The temperature on the thermometer read close to 70 degrees on this Saturday in early June.

Saturday was normally the only day of the week that I ever got to spend a good bit of time outside behind my house exploring the adjacent woods. I really looked forward to doing this each week because of all the friends I hung out with in there. You see my friends aren’t actually those kids in my neighborhood playing games and riding their bikes around with each other. Those guys generally just make fun of me and tend to think I’m rather strange because I talk to the trees and plants and insects and create my own world out there in the woods. But that’s ok because I don’t think much about them at all once I cross the edge of the grass in my backyard and enter that first row of trees aligning the woods.

My thoughts of those kids quickly evaporated as I raced out my backdoor to begin my weekly adventure, My mother who was busily reading her latest and most likely quite boring romance novel shouted that I needed to be home by 5pm before the door came to a complete close. I quickly glanced down at my red watch that had a lightning bolt in its center to see how much time I had left. It was only 1pm, plenty of time I thought…

It wasn’t long before the sticks from fallen branches were crunching beneath my feet as I entered the darker canopy of the surrounding woods. I immediately headed south towards an area that had become my fort of sorts over time. I guess you could say it was more of a solid structure because it was a gigantic odd-shaped rock I had found sitting there deep in the thick of the woods last year. The rock itself was close to 30 feet high and 100 feet wide and at its base lay the place I did most of my exploring and playing. I always wondered how this huge monstrosity got to be in the middle of a forest all by itself. Sometimes I liked to pretend it housed an alien spacecraft either inside or beneath it and other times I imagined wizards used it long ago. But more than not, I just found ways to create my own fantasy world with the rock being at the center of it.

By the time I reached it, I glanced down at my watch again and saw it was already 1:30. Thankfully, I still had plenty of time to do the task I wanted to take on today. I had brought a small shovel to accomplish it because I wanted to dig directly in front of a section on the rock where there were several strange markings. They had always been there since I had first discovered the large boulder and although I had assumed it was just some graffiti made by a few of those neighborhood kids, I had decided I was still going to pretend I was digging for buried treasure.

I had once watched a bunch of workers a few years ago dig out some holes in my backyard when they built our porch, but I never knew how much work it actually was.

“Phew! This is totally exhausting!” I said aloud as if the birds were listening overhead.

Note to self. Never do a job in life that ever involves digging any huge holes!!!

An hour passed by with me eagerly digging away, which was beginning to take its toll on me since I had yet to find anything interesting at all. I was also covered with dirt from head to toe that I’m sure my mother wasn’t going to be all too happy about. While I had dug considerably deeper than I thought I could, I was about to throw my shovel down in sheer frustration when…

“CLAAAAANNNNGGGGGG”….

The sound rang out all around me making my heart suddenly skip a beat.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

 

Question: How can you make a turkey float?
Answer: You need 2 scoops of ice cream, some root beer, and a turkey!

Yeah, tomorrow’s Thanksgiving Day! I can’t wait to have my fill of Mr. Gobble Gobble and all those trimmings and desserts too. By the way, can you believe that Andrew is taking his partner out to some expensive restaurant for their holiday meal? I think it’s because he’s just a little bit impatient to wait for Chris to prepare it. Or maybe it’s because every time he helps out in the kitchen the local fire department seems to come for a visit! 🙂 In all seriousness though, I have to give Andrew a lot of credit because he’s been doing a ton of work on himself to heal his life and mine of course. So keep up the good work big bro!

Oh before I forget to tell you something, Andrew asked me to mention how he’s going to be taking a break from writing in his blog for the next couple of days. I guess that’s ok since every old geezer kind of needs one of those from time to time now don’t they? LOL. Anyways, you’ll at least still be seeing his brief Thought For The Day quotes during that time. That’s probably a good thing though because sometimes those quotes seem to be way more interesting than a few of his articles now don’t they? Just kidding Andrew!

Well before I go and before I bore you to death, (I bet you thought I was going to make another joke here on Andrew now didn’t you?) the main reason why Andrew had me write today’s entry was to be the one to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. I only hope that each of you will treat those you spend it with really well. This is a day to bring family, friends and loved ones together. It’s not a day for fighting, arguing, or being mean to each other ok? And one more thing, if you happen to know of someone who has no one to be with for the holiday, maybe you could ask him or her to spend it with you so that they’re not alone. Andrew and I went through a few of them like that over the years and they were always very lonely.

So that’s about it everyone! Just remember to bless your turkey or whatever food you have to eat this Thanksgiving. Be grateful for having food in the first place and for whomever you get to share it with. Love the little kid who still lives inside you and try to have some fun with them during this holiday. And with that, I wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson