I don't have a lot of interesting things going on right now to write about. Well probably not interesting to people besides myself. So how about a blast from the past before my memory fails me. I bring you:

When were stationed in Italy (5th through 7th grade) we lived in civilian housing in regular Italian neighborhoods. While in Naples we lived above the Cuma caves so our area was called Parco Cuma. My dad rented a villa (don't get excited, they were all villas). It had a stucco and wrought iron wall around it with a gate in the front and the back. Purely cosmetic as it had seashell shaped cutouts where you could run up one side and hop over to the other. Trust me, it did not deter burgulars or even stray dogs.
The villa had all one level living and then a basement level where we were banished to play. The basement led to the backyard and my dad's prized citrus trees. From which, despite help from the farmer behind us, my dad couldn't coax more than golfball-sized fruit. The rest of the American kids in the neighborhood all hung out together. It didn't matter if you were a jock, geek or lump, all kids were included. Because we didn't have any English speaking television stations we spent a lot of time outdoors. This made all the moms happy and we pretty much did whatever we wanted. There was one kid who had an extensive movie collection, we're talking Betamax here. His mom would let you watch movies at their house but only with parent's permission. She actually kept a Rolodex with each kid's slip including what ratings they were allowed. Did I mention she was also our Home Economics teacher? The first time I saw E.T. was a bootleg copy in her livingroom.
Other interests included kick the can, tag and fireworks. Yes, fireworks. They were unbelievably cheap and powerful. By now you've probably figured out where this story is going.
Let me set the scene. Around our villa was a sidewalk that ran along the house. For some unknown reason it had a tunnel underneath. You could climb through an opening in the retaining wall and disappear. Well we did. And on many occasions. One time in particular comes to mind. The group of us were under there including my brother and I. Basically atleast one kid from each family in the neighborhood was represented. We grew bored of the fireworks and moved on to aerosol can flamethrowers. But this was not the pinnacle of our stupidity. We decided it wasn't enough flames and built a little fire in that tunnel. Between us and the exit. Sheer genius. How we manged to not all die down there is a miracle. To this day you can still whip my mom into a frenzy at the mere mention of this incident. It's a wonder the other kids were still allowed to play with us after that.

Until next time.....