When I think back to when I was a kid.
I always see you and all the things we did.
When I tell a story it isn’t just about me,
my adventurous stories always started with the word we.
Our life was never a bore.
Remember the little puppies we tried to save in a shed next door.
Mom use to pull us in the wagon to see the horses down Mrs.Shirley’s lane.
We fed those horses apples and carrots and gave them a name.
I remember the disappointment we had on Carnival night when it would rain.
And the little shack we made in the backyard with no floor.
I remember your first wheels, that old lawn mower.
How about those trips to Marshall’s farm?
Or pointing at that green critter sitting on the car when I broke my arm.
The crab house road, where we picked blackberries and tasted the honeysuckle vines.
And we can’t forget the four story clubhouse you made in a triangle of pines.
A many summer spent on the docks at Shell Landing.
With our string, nets, and chicken, we did some crabbing.
I remember fighting over the top bunk bed,
and hearing the sound of country music blasting from your shed.
The nights we didn’t care where we’d end.
We would jump out of the window and take off to the beach with our friends.
Swimming in the creek in our backyard
and jumping off the house with umbrella’s hitting the ground very hard.
I remember 4am sitting in the paddle boat fishing in Cockrell’s creek.
And taking that same paddle boat to Chip’s dock and pulling the plug to watch it leak.
We had that boat in every position except the right way.
I don’t remember laughing as much as I did that day.
We were pioneers, no matter how rough we still tackled the bay.
I’m on the bow and you telling me to get out of your way.
And the God aweful water logged softball,
you bee-lined me, and stars was all I saw.
I think back and say I can’t believe we did that. How?
And then I think we were some awesome kids. Wow.
Most of the adventures started with you.
I was lucky to have a brother who let me become part of his adventure too.
I don’t think there was anything left undone.
We did it all, and we had some damn good fun.
My childhood was wonderful and I wouldn’t trade it with any other.
I owe a lot of it to my brother.
Those adventures made memories built to last.
What was then is now part of the past.
But if I could write you a toast
Here’s to you Alfred, it is the adventures with you I miss the most.
Dedicated to Alfred Crockett
Love always your sister, Joanne
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