Vacation Bible School
Everywhere i turn lately there is someone talking about vacation bible school. either their kids or grandkids are going, or they are helping run it at their church.
i am not a religious person. if i had to label myself i would probably go with agnostic (agnostic vs. atheist). but i do fondly remember those wonderful fun filled weeks of VBS as a kid. the one i went to most often was at Ohlman Church about 4 miles or so down the road from where i lived (according to Google Maps). the couple that ran our local gas station and store were parishioners there and were more than happy to take me along with them to attend VBS even though i didn’t actually go to church there. There was an entire process involved. my family lived down a mile long dirt road so to make it easier for Mr & Mrs Fields, i would hop on my trusty motorcycle and head up to their house so they didn’t have to go out of their way to pick me up.
My Honda, a main source of transportation from age 8 – 12, i got a bigger motorcycle at 12 🙂
it was just over a mile to their house, just a little past their little store , which is where my other favorite summer activity occured, the BOOK MOBILE 🙂
Fields’ Store
i didn’t have to cross the highway and would get to their house with plenty time to spare to change into my church dress from the t-shirt and jeans i wore to ride the motorcycle and there was often some tangles to get out of my hair. then we would hop into their big old car and head off to bible school. usually after we got back to their house, i would just tuck my dress up under me and head home, i just didn’t want it to get dirty before church 🙂
Mr & Mrs Fields’ house
I can still remember some of the things i made there, one year i made a thing for my dad to hang on the wall, it was a circle cut from a tree trunk and then we used Mod Podge to put a picture on, for my dad i put a picture of a big tom turkey. i wonder i they still have that thing.. i will have to ask.
Mr and Mrs Fields are gone now, and it has been a very long time since i went to church, but i drive by their old store
Mr and Mrs Fields tending the store. remember when someone came out to fill your car for you? he even filled my motorcycle tank, and took all the pennies i had scraped up to pay with.
and that church every time i go home to visit, and oh, the memories…. and let me tell you, thinking about VBS actually makes me ponder going 🙂 but i am pretty sure they wouldn’t let me have near as much fun now that i am a grown up.
I went to VBS (and services) at my aunt’s church many times as well, but that wasn’t as much as an adventure since they lived right next door and it didn’t involve a motorcycle ride through the woods on a dark dirt road 🙂