Any niece or nephew will gladly tell of the "times they've had with John" and how special they were. I want to mention that Mike had the wonderful advantage of lots of time with John. Especially after our divorce, Mike and I would spend some of each day over at Dad's and John's. John was the only "car seat" Mike ever knew. As we would travel down the "fast street" as John taught Mike to call the freeway on our way to Margaret's, John would occupy Mike by telling him about the landmarks to look for that would help pass the time. The point of the mountain, the smoke stacks, and inevitably whenever we passed a smelly place on the roadway from a slaughter house or big farm, John would say, "Mike, didn't you change your socks today?" It was a great laugh, until one day Mike tried it on someone in the car who wasn't in on the joke.

Mike spent hours and hours in John's room listening to music and I suppose if Mike were to list today some of his own greatest joys----music would be near the top. John, and Mike to follow, liked all kinds of music. Mike still plays some of John's music today. When Mike was in kindergarten, Lynn returned the family piano because he had purchased a grand piano. This was so exciting to Mike that one day after school, instead of going home, Mike walked all the way to John's just to play the piano. (This would be a determined 5 year old walking right through Liberty Park alone.)

One of the last trips that Mike and John went on together was to Sea World. I wonder if that trip didn't plant a seed or two for Mike because of his extensive interest in tropical and salt water fish that came later. It was all John could do to talk Mike into picking up that starfish. Much of what John did with all of the kids was to teach them every chance he got.

He loved teaching the kids that he was magic. The most famous trick was to take out a piece of candy and hold it with the last two fingers of his big hand and then invite a kid over and ask them to point to a picture of their favorite choice on a closed box of candy. As soon as a chocolate was pointed to, John would drop the candy from his hand and offer it to them. The looks of amazement are easily recalled today. When Mike was very young and in the imitation stage, he would try to "back down the stairs" the way John used to. We had to talk pretty hard to get Mike to stop doing it. We never were successful at getting Mike to not stand like John with his legs crossed. In the years to come as Mike was on the baseball field or just standing around, he would be in John's familiar stance. I've personally come to love seeing it. It's just a little reminder to me that John is still here.

Carrie, Mike Haman and John Carson at the Deer Camp

Mike Haman and John Carson on the Heber Creeper

Puzzle:
It is a mistake to attempt to barter a mount while attemping to ford a wet area.