Back in the late 80's when i was kid, around 6 years old, i guess you could say i was curious and had that creative streak in me. One of my favorites toys or activities to do was make things using legos. ya know, cakes, castles, houses, cars. Me and my little brother Alaska are only 2 years and a day apart, so we had to share everything, including the legos and as we got older, old-school nintendo video games, with Mario Brother's being our favorite. Good thing Mario Bro.s 2 and 3 had 2 players! That day i was like Alaska can have the legos, i want the bucket!
Anyhoo, we spent alot of time at our grandparents growing up. All of our family get together's took place at my grandparents house because Nana liked hosting and everyone crammed into their small house, some people were left standing that's how small their one bathroom house was! I rememeber, me, Alaska and my mom visiting there. The old-fashioned wooden box tv was on, a sunny day, and all the lego's were spilled onto the rug. News clips of Princess Diana and all of England Royalty was talked about and obviously had influence on me as i brilliantly decided to place the blue lego bucket on my head upside as a "hat" as those guards of Buckingham Palace wear.
I slipped the handle of the bucket under my chin and proudly displayed my new hat. My head is round, big and i have dumbo-esque ears that must have like {suctioned} to the insides of the bucket lol! It was dark inside the bucket, but i could still see light. I marched, danced and shook my heavy head (my head must have been heavier that my petite body because i could feel the imbalance). My mom was getting annoyed at my loudness/rambunctious ramblings and told me to take off the bucket. Being an obedient child, i listened and i tried to take it off. I pulled. I tugged. I wiggled but MY HEAD WAS STUCK!! I started to panic and said, "mom, i can't, it's stuck." I thought, "was i going to be stuck with a blue bucket on my head forever!?" Even more frustrated, she tried to take it off too but was pulling my head along with the bucket stretching my neck... Up, Up and OUCH! Mom kept trying and then my grandparents tried and whatever else adult was there tried, but no such luck. I started to cry and was getting scared.
The last thing the adults knew to do was call 911! and they did. That meant serious bizness! I couldn't see everyone but remember hearing the commotion as all i could see was a blue plastic ocean surrounding me with shadows and that the fireman would be there in 5 minutes or less which felt like eternity to me! My mom opened the front door in much anticipation of the rescue men and I kept struggling to get the bucket off myself as we waited. I'm sure all were embarrassed of this situation!
I heard the sirens and was determined to get this thing off of me. Maybe i was scared of the fireman and what they might do to dislodge my head!? Just as the firemen were walking up the driveway to the front door, I POPPED the bucket OFF! My head and face sweaty for being under that thing for who knows how long, i cried because i breathe fresh air! Everyone in the house & the firemen at the doorway laughed with relief and a sigh of "these kinds of things happen" to my mom, who i am sure was like, "i can't believe this is happening!" apologetically to the fireman, for coming out to the house and not needing their help and i ended up getting it off myself.
I don't remember what happened exactly after that,though i'm sure i was in big trouble and learned the lesson to NEVER put a lego bucket on top of my head AGAIN! or anything that could resemble a hat lol. Sorry mom for that grief! I think from that day on was the creative redirection of my love for crayons, markers and paint!
