Lucy Memoirs Begining

I have a friend named Otis that I am involved with in certain civic clubs around town, and Otis writes a weekly article in the paper about his childhood. Now there is a significant difference in age between Otis and me, but nevertheless I thought "you know what, I have some pretty great memories from my childhood that I could at the very least document". So here I am writing about my childhood and the adventures my friends and I shared.

Now Mark Twain had his Huckleberry Finn, and I might not be no Mark Twain, but I do have my fair share of childhood stories. I was born in Memphis Tennessee in 1979. We lived in a little community outside of Millington called "Lucy". Lucy was a beautiful community full of trees, pastures, curvy roads, plenty of hills, and full of everything needed for a bunch of boys to get into plenty of trouble with. The city of Millington was a booming little city but was most famous for the Naval Air Station that Millington hosted. NAS provided the icing on the cake for my childhood because of the fighter jets that were constantly flying overhead. Every boy in my neighborhood dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot. The mix of the F-14's, F-18's, courser's, and other fighter aircraft, combined with the release of a little movie called "Top Gun" had us all speaking in call signs. I will speak further about these adventures in later post.

We weren't the richest family in the neighborhood. Come to think of it no one really was, or maybe we just didn't notice. Dad was a Memphis City Firefighter and like every firefighter they all had second jobs due to their schedule. Dad owned his own plumbing business called "Splash Plumbing". Now even as a child I always thought that was a strange name for a plumbing business but regardless it worked. Mom had a various number a little jobs here and there but for the most part she always felt her career was to stay at home and manage us boys. I have a little brother, Will who was born when I was 6 years old. Like most brothers we fought and had our differences, but in the end the bond of brotherhood stood strong. The last of our family always consisted of at least 2 dogs. Now these weren't your little rat dogs you see celebrities carry around with them in purses these were Man dogs: Labs, Retrievers, and yes even a Blood Hound. My family formed several friendships with several other families in Lucy and they all happened to have kids the same age as Will and me. The friendships started with these kids were rock solid and even though we've all pretty much gone our own ways now, I can still guarantee you that if any of us were ever in need the other will be there.

I hope I'm painting a nice backdrop for this article that will somewhat lay a foundation for future post. I'm looking forward to taking a trip down memory lane as I divulge my "Lucy Memories".

-Steve Childress