Evangola at Two

     Here is a story I overheard my Dad tell about me one time – it is not an incident I had remembered at all. It must have been the summer of '55 because neither of my brothers had been born as yet. So I was just under two years old. My parents wanted to go to the beach – this was Evangola State Park – a beautiful beach on the shore of Lake Erie, south of Buffalo and Hamburg.

     At one point during that afternoon, my folks wanted to go in the water without me. So they sat me on the blanket which was stretched out on their portion of the sand and instructed me to sit there and not move. I was not to get off of the blanket for any reason. They said that I would be able to see them at all times when they were in the water – but I was not to leave the blanket before they got back to me.

     Then they walked into the water, keeping their eyes on me at all times. I seemed to be sitting obediently, and Mom and Dad were quite pleased with themselves for having a child who followed instructions so well! They had as much fun in the water as they could considering they could not stop looking at me for even a moment.

     Finally Mom and Dad got out of the water and started walking back toward the blanket. Their satisfaction at having been able to have some fun in the water while their two-year-old stayed safe on the beach soon turned into a state of panic! The closer they got to the blanket I was on, the more into focus I became, and they saw what had been preoccupying me while they were in the water, and understandably, it scared the heck out of them.

I had an unlit cigarette hanging from my mouth! In my left hand was a pack of matches. In my right hand was a single match which I kept striking against the strip on the pack to light! I was unsuccessful with every strike of the match, and with every missed stroke, I yelled out “Jesus Christ!”

     That was the day my Folks realized they had to stop saying certain words in front of me if they did not want to hear me saying them also.

     It was a shock when I heard this story – because I could not recall ever hearing my parents say the Lord's name in vain, or otherwise cuss – and yet, it was obvious that my two-year-old self had gotten it from them!

from the photo album

5 20150105 Evangola at Two