That’s me and my oldest best friend, Nate. We were maybe nine years old? I just reconnected with him on Facebook today. Before today, I hadn’t seen or talked to him in five years or so. He now has two kids and is living back in the same house he grew up in, and where I spent a lot of time as a kid.

We grew up together (at least for part of my childhood) in a small town in Indiana. We were the rulers of the block we lived on. My father was a minister and we lived in the parsonage next to the church. Across the street from my house, over a small alley, was Nate’s house which was next to the funeral home his father owned. We had the whole block to do with what we wanted. Parking lots to ride bikes in, trees to climb, huge yards to play Ghost in the Graveyard. And Nate had bins full of He-Man and G.I. Joe action figures. What more could a kid want? We played in the funeral home a lot, too. Drinking Tab and eating chocolate cookies. We knew the limits of where to play, though. There were places in the funeral home that were OFF LIMITS. Ever seen the movie My Girl?

The next block was the butcher’s shop. We’d stop in there to buy ice cream. Weird, I know, but they also had a huge parking lot in which to play. Next to that was our friend, Ben. That’s where we raced on the big wheels. Put the Transformers tape in the tape deck, and the race was on. Ben had the ever-coveted Green Machine, his dad was a doctor after all. A doctor, minister, and funeral director? What other services do you need in life?

When I look back, its kind of strange, really. Funeral home, butcher’s shop, church? As Nate put it, when you grow up between a funeral home and a slaughterhouse, you’re gonna have some psychological problems. But I still have a lot of good, great, and amazing memories.

Thankfully, though, we don’t have psychological probems. Its pretty amazing to think of the differences from where I grew up to here in Nepal. If you asked me back then if I’d ever go to Nepal, I would have told you I’d never even heard of Nepal. I guess a lot changes in 20 years. And thank the Lord one of those changes is NOT wearing hot pink shorts anymore!