The Lava is Fun

Hi. A few days ago my sister reminded me of a childhood game in which we piled blankets and pillows together on the floor, then jumped off of a bed into that pile. We called it The Lava is Fun. Another favorite game of ours was convincing Courtney that if she hit her head hard enough, she'd become a princess. Even Mom and Dad would get into this one at the supper table, laughing along as Courtney wound up her little hand and smacked her little skull, repeatedly, with an expectant smile on her innocent face. Then there were the times we babysat Courtney while Mom and Dad were out...we'd bang on the bottom keys of the piano in Jaws theme song style, then run after her, roaring, as she screamed bloody murder and tried to escape us.
But before you go thinking we're monsters, let me show you the inescapable heredity which compelled us to behave this way: when Mom was a little girl, her brothers would put her dolls in car accidents and draw cuts and bruises all over them with markers that didn't wash off. These same brothers convinced my aunt that every time she peed, a little bit of her brains came out. Even Grandma went along with this one for awhile! And on the Friggstad side of things, there was a Christmas Day several decades ago that involved my grandparents gift-wrapping a literal pile of baloney for my youngest uncle (then about five years old). After eagerly opening his present, he started bawling in disappointment. So funny!