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August 09, 2004
AH, TO BE A KID AGAIN
Being ten rocked, didn't it?
I was reminded of this obvious but easily forgotten fact when I read this story from Germany, about a group of 350 kids who staged the largest water balloon battle ever.
Some 350 German youths staged what they called the world's biggest water-balloon fight over the weekend, soaking each other with 7,850 balloons in less than three minutes.
The children and teenagers in Schweinfurt stood on two sides of a 10 meter by 10 meter (33 foot by 33 foot) field. When the starting gun went off, they began pelting the opposing team for two minutes and 48 seconds as three referees looked on.
As a kid, I was a veteran of several water balloon wars that raged every summer... one year it was the northern end of our block vs. the southern end... the next year it was Magnolia Street vs. Norway Street... we even had one summer where we unwittingly acted out "The Outsiders," when the popular jock kids battled it out with the burnouts and unpopular kids... a rural version of the Socs vs. Greasers.
One kid on my block had a dad who worked in construction, and one spring he built us an epic treehouse in their backyard - big enough to fit a small love seat in, wired for electricity (so we hauled up an 8 track stereo and one of those small dorm refrigerators)... hell, this thing even had vinyl siding. And that house served as command central for three summers worth of water balloon commando raids. Those water balloon wars are among the best memories I have of my childhood... and to this day I wish I had the nerve to start one at the office.
There's not a whole lot I wouldn't have given to be on that field with those German kids the other day. The world needs a few more water balloons, don't you think?
