Lessons Learned in the Basement

I'm not sure why, but when I woke up this morning I was thinking about something I haven't thought about for quite some time. It's strange how that happens now and again.

When I was younger, we lived in Idaho Falls. We had what I remember as being a huge house. I think it was a split level. It had the level you entered on, an upstairs, a downstairs and a basement. That basement was unfinished, but we played down there a lot. There are two particular things I remember specifically about that space and things I did there.

First of all, my sister Sherry and I would practice what we thought were these elaborate roller skating routines. I still have my skates. The basement was very large, so we had a lot of room from one end to the other. After we mastered our moves in the basement, we would take them on the road - well the driveway. And, sometimes we would even show our moves at the local roller skating rink.

Racking my brain, I have been able to remember some of our moves. One was the football stance where we would squat down over our skates and, I think, hold onto the stoppers on the end of the skates. Another was a variation on this where one leg would be straight out on the side. We could do these moves frontwards or backwards. I think we called another one of our moves angel wings, where of course our arms were used, probably flapping in a way that resembled a prehistoric bird. I know there were other specific moves that we named, but I just can't remember what they are called. We could skate forwards, backwards, sideways, over things and underthings. I think we even attempted to skate under the ping pong table. We practiced really hard and the basement was our main learning ground.

The most memorable thing that took place in that basement occurred when I was 7 or 8. Half of our basement was set aside for food storage. I think there were shelves for canned goods. The main event though, was the big white deep freeze freezer. This freezer was packed with meat, fruit, vegetables, cheese and other items.

One day while playing in that basement, I got to looking at that big white freezer and figured that it needed some sprucing up, via a new coat of paint. So, looking around, I found a can of hunter orange spray paint. I shook that paint just like it said to on the directions. I pried the lid off with a screw driver, just like it said on the directions. I sprayed in short, even strokes, just like it said on the directions. Before long, a good portion of the freezer was no longer white, but I got tired of painting the freezer, it was quite large after all, and besides, there was something else that was beckoning to be redecorated. I shot a couple blasts at our ugly green play stove. Then, I envisioned how nice the walls might look in this bright orange and started working on the unfinished wood on the walls. I'm not sure if the paint ran out and that is why I stopped, or if someone discovered what I had done, but I really didn't get very far on the walls.

The next thing I remember is sitting on Dad's knee in the basement surveying my handywork. My Dad didn't yell at me and he didn't lecture me either. He did ask me if I felt like I was old enough to know better and what did I think I needed to do to correct it. And, did I understand why I was going to get spanked. I said I did understand and gritted my teeth waiting for the spanking. I don't remember the spanking hurting though... I think I scrubbed at the paint and got some off.

For years after, when I saw that freezer with the orange paint on it, I had fond memories of the freedom of painting with a spray can. And, when I'm walking down the paint isle and see orange I also remember the feeling of exhileration. Maybe it was the rush from doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing rather than the inner artist in me. I still think an orange freezer is more insteresting than a white one and all in all, the discipline was worth the afternoon of painting.

I did learn my lesson in the basement that day and have kept myself from painting the freezer I have in my garage. I suppose if Evan ever finds that can of orange paint that I bought awhile back as a reminder and decides to paint our freezer with it, I won't be too mad. In fact, maybe I'll help him!