The Bunk House

Quite a while back, I eluded to the bunk house that our dad built for my brother and me waaaaay back in the fifties.  Now, I can’t, for the life of me, remember the circumstances that led to Darry and Mickey getting this neat little piece of Heaven on earth, but it was the summer of 1957 when dad built it for us - I was 10 and Mickey was 6.  This little bunk house was to become the center of our existence for years to come.  It still stands on the very spot that “we” built it those many years ago as a memorial to our happy, happy childhood.

Whenever the weather warmed up enough in the spring you’d find Darry and Mickey “bunking” out in their little palace on the weekends.  Once school turned us loose, we’d move into the bunk house for the rest of the summer.  It sure beat “camping out” in a tent and sleeping on the ground.  Come fall, it would be back to weekends until temperatures plummeted to below tolerable, at which time we would retreat back to our bedrooms. 

Although it wasn’t very big it seemed like a mansion to us kids.  Somewhere dad had come up with two Army cots that were our beds.  We had a couple of old desks where we built our models or did whatever.  For games, we used a card table set between the two bunks.  Mickey and I built shelves between the studs to put our model cars and other precious items on.  We had pictures up here and there.  Other necessities of life, such as baseball bats, footballs, badminton rackets, etc., were stowed under the bunks.

The bunk house was in use all day long during the summertime, especially on rainy days.  We would play games “out there” or build model airplanes and cars “out there”.  We’d host our neighborhood friends in the bunk house and would conceive many a neighborhood reconnaissance mission from the “command center”.  I might add here that the neighbors weren’t always thrilled with the reconnaissance missions that were hatched in that little bunk house.  “Glory, glory, hallelujah.  Us brats go marching on.”  Life was good.

Today, I can sit back with a smile on my face and reflect on all the fun that Darry and Mickey had in that little bunk house.  What fond memories.  I recommend that every child have their own little bastion where they can retreat from the adult population and live out their fantasies.  The neighborhood may never be the same after the reconnaissance missions have been completed but, “Mission complete!”

After searching all of our pictures, this is the only picture that I have of our bunk house.  It’s actually in the background of a picture but, with the help of Picasa, I was able to crop it enough to show just the bunk house.

 

BBFN And May God Bless  - - - - - - - -