I had a nose bleed the other day and for some reason it made me think of two separate memories.  How strange is that?  I know, it’s strange but the memories are sort of funny….sort of…..okay, maybe for an innocent bystander.  The first one was when my big sister became a contestant in a spelling bee.  I’m not sure what grade she was in but I’m guessing it was maybe third.  The word she was asked to spell was blood.  She thought for a moment and then proceeded.  BLOOD, B-L-U-D, BLOOD.  I have no memory of being there and if she was 8, I was only 3 so I wouldn’t have caught her goof anyway but every time she tells this story I laugh.  It was probably tragic for her as there were no awards given at a competition like that back then if you spelled something wrong.  It wasn’t like some places today when awards are given to every child so nobody feels bad.  I can’t say I wouldn’t have liked it that way back when I was a kid but being told no and not winning at everything did have it’s rewards.  I guess it formed our backbones and I can honestly say mine has definitely come in handy!

The second memory is a bit graphic and requires a bit of setup so here goes.   The old house we grew up in only had two bedrooms so my dad built a dividing wall down the middle of the bigger one.  Half of it became my sister’s and my room and the other half became my brother’s room.  The bedroom only had one door on it so in order to create a bit of privacy for my brother, my mom strung a curtain across his section.  There was only one closet too and that was on his side so getting clothes out of it was never easy.  He was very picky about who came in his room and when you knocked on the curtain and asked, the answer was almost always NO!  I can’t remember for sure but I’m betting mom didn’t have a lot of laundry for Becky and I back then as we most likely wore the same outfit for several days due to the fact that the majority of our clothes were being held hostage in the unattainable closet!  My sister and I avoided Jr’s room and him as much as possible because we were never quite sure what he was up to.  At a very young age he was showing a deep appreciation for sling shots and pop guns and we just never knew what might follow and just who he might choose as his first target.

When I had that nose bleed I remembered a day, years ago, when my brother decided to work on his marksmanship skills.  It was a bit unfortunate that he was the only one that knew anything about this plan on that particular day but he had recently acquired a brand new suction cup dart shooting gun and we sort of knew it wouldn’t be long before he began his search for the perfect target.  He has always loved guns but as a child that was most likely no older than 5 or 6, he wasn’t aware that pointing guns at people was wrong even if they were your sisters.  On the day of the incident, he opened his curtain door and noticed neither Becky nor I were in our room which immediately sparked the idea for a hunt.  He loaded a dart in his new gun and began sneaking out of his room.  Four feet later he found himself slinking up next to the bedroom door that led into the bathroom.  He poked his head around the corner ever so discreetly and caught site of the perfect target perched on the toilet.  In a matter of seconds he aimed, pulled the trigger and WHAMMO!  He hit the bulls eye!  This bulls eye’s name was Becky and she was not the least bit impressed nor would anyone be if they got hit smack dab in the nose with a suction cup dart!  Thankfully it was my sister that took the hit resulting in a nose bleed.  I wasn’t happy this happened to her but she really couldn’t have been in a better place to suffer a shock like that.  There was toilet paper right next to her and the perfect seat should anything slip out….er, ah, well, you know what I mean.  I was happy about one thing though.  I knew the chances of my brother taking aim at one of his sisters again was not nearly as likely now that the details of his first hunt were on their way to dad’s ears!  I don’t think my sister will ever forget that day and I would also be willing to bet that she never misspelled Blood ever again.  Not every unexpected event produces better spelling skills but this one certainly did! Blood, B-L-O-O-D, Blood.