Another Kevan story

I have always been a little absent-minded. I have told myself that it was the absent-minded professor syndrome-- that it was due to the fact that I was so smart in one area of my brain that it took away all the thoughts in the other areas of my brain... at least that is what I have always told myself!

My parents have a wonderful picture of me as a small child with a 'reverse Mohawk' haircut. When I was in pre-school, we were learning to use scissors to cut paper. I thought it would be a good idea to try cutting my hair-- so I cut a path right through the middle of my hair from the front to the back, a reverse Mohawk. I became famous, until it grew back in.

I was also always influenced by those around me. Rather than choose my own path through life, I was constantly deciding to do what others where doing, or what others told me to do. That is how I became a 'daredevil'-- always willing to do stupid things others dared me to do. In some strange way it made me feel special that I was willing to do what others wouldn't, not realizing that they were having fun at my expense.

This tendency to follow others usually led to evil, and seldom led to good.

One of my earliest memories was going with my brother to steal a rubber raft. We lived way out on what then was the fringe of the city. There were not a lot of homes, and we were surrounded by open land--lots of places for us to play.

Behind our house was an old canal that ran through the valley, that had been built for the farmers, who used it to irrigate their land. I had no idea where this canal went, as I was too young (perhaps 7 or 8 yrs old) to understand the landscape of the area in which I lived. One day my brother talked me into helping him steal a rubber raft that belonged to our neighbors. He wanted to float down the canal for an adventure. As usual, I simply followed along. It ended up to be a frightening experience for me.

We stole the small rubber raft and pulled it through the brush to an open field and to where the canal crossed the back of the property. Then we got in the raft and simply began floating with the current. I had no idea where we were going, what dangers were ahead, or had any thoughts of how I was to get back home. I was trusting everything to my older brother.

It was not long before I had completely lost my bearings, and became frightened, because I no longer could tell where I was. We drifted along the canal for what seemed forever. Because the canal was very slow, and cut a very winding path through the land, this caused me a great deal of anxiety, as I thought we had traveled much farther from home than we actually had.

After a couple of hours of travel, I began to hear a noise of thundering water. The closer we got, the louder the sound of crashing water. We were coming to a waterfall! Now I was really scared! I kept asking my brother to end the trip, but he was determined to go farther, and teased me that he wanted to actually go over the waterfall. I'm sure the reason I can remember this early memory is due to the great fear I had as we neared this great waterfall.

The waterfall was located where the canal connected with the Little Cottonwood creek that came out of the mountains. At the point where the two streams intersected, there was a concrete barrier that could close off the canal, and that dropped perhaps 2' to 4' into the freshwater creek. At that age, it looked and sounded like Niagara falls!

To my great relief, and due to the concrete barrier, the canal continued to move slowly all the way to the end, and we easily stopped our raft and got out. Then my brother pushed the raft over the falls, and we watched it as it floated down the larger creek until it disappeared.

Just as quickly as my fear had eased from escaping death at the waterfall, it returned when I realized that I was still completely lost! How were we ever to get back home? I was sure that it would be dark before we got back, if we got back at all. I was still frightened, not having any idea where we were, and not receiving any comfort from my older brother, who continued to tease me.

My heart was finally put to rest when the dirt road we were following came out onto Highland Drive, the main road through the area that also ran in front of our house. Our trip had ended, and the towering waterfall had been where the Cottonwood Mall would later be built. And on our walk back home, we passed the Cottonwood 2nd Ward where we went to church every week!

Sometimes (to my ultimate benefit) my absent mindedness, and unfortunate tendency to follow others often turned upon those who sought to use me for their own purposes! Once when I was a teenager, my brother got me involved in arranging for a case of beer for his weekend party. As usual, I simply went along. I don't know why I had been sent to meet the beer dealer (is that like a drug dealer?), but I was assigned to meet him, give him the money, and then take the beer and hide it. I decided to hide the beer inside an old culvert that ran under our driveway.

I now had to find some way to tell my brother where I had hidden the case of beer... and it was at this point I once again became absent minded! The solution I came up with was to leave my brother a note in his room. I knew enough not to leave the note out in the open, so I decided to hide the note under his pillow--figuring that he would find it when he went to bed.

In looking back, I had created the perfect conundrum: I had hidden the note so well that I would have to tell my brother where the note was that told him where the hidden beer was...

I had not consider the possibility that my mother might come into the room to make my brother's bed! As you have already guessed, the note was found, and both of us got into big trouble! That may have been the last time my brother trusted me to be his beer mule.

I'm not sure when I finally got a mind and will of my own. At some point in my life I realized that following others was getting me nowhere. Not only was I giving up my own will to the decisions of others, it was constantly leading me to do what was wrong, rather than what was good. I was always getting into trouble for decisions I was not even making!

It was only when I made the decision to cut my own path through life that I began to find the truth. When I made my own decisions, even when I made mistakes, I learned from them, because they were my own mistakes, not the mistakes of others.

And when I made good decisions, I grew and developed confidence and courage, because the benefit that came from those good decisions was due to my own action and not because of simply following another's lead.

I simply regret that it took so long for me to learn that lesson!