KevinChilds.com

Pre-emptive Warning: If you aren’t from Conway, this bloggage might bore you to death.

Pre-emptive Warning #2: It’s going to be sappy. And personal.  And what Simon Cowell would call a little “self-indulgent.” But if you ARE a Conwayite, and old like me, it might take you back. Way back.

But in a good way.

I’m about to go walk for awhile. Sometimes it feels like I’m trying to outrun the aging process, or the fat that’s chasing me. But when the walk starts at my office, I love it. I like the part where I walk to and around Conway’s RiverWalk. Whoever thought it up is to be commended. Walking by Kingston Presbyterian, on the boardwalk, around the park and marina area is really nice. It’s a wonderful slice of Conway that more people need to see.

But it isn’t my favorite. The part I REALLY like is the last third or so – walking through old Conway. No matter how many times I walk it, I cannot keep the memories out of my mind. Soooo many personal emotional landmarks that punctuate my life.

• There’s where the Banners lived, and where Stewart and I tried to throw bottle-rockets over and then down Eunice Thomas’s chimney. (MY idea, his yard)
• Over there is First Methodist Church, where I had my first “ministry position” as Youth Minister. Ben Cunningham was the pastor, and a fatherly friend to me. All the people of First Methodist made that the best possible first ministry assignment.
• Within eye-shot is First Baptist. It’s where I went to kindergarten, where I was baptized, where some great people tried to build good things into my character. It is where Jimmy Reavis, Tim Lee, Buster Bradham, Buddy Martin, and a few other incorrigibles (and I) were known to go through 2-3 frustrated Sunday School teachers a year.
• It was there that Dr. George Lovell heard me say I was called to ministry. And where he immediately replied, “Then I want you to lead our church in prayer tonight.” I honestly think I wet my pants a little in terror.
• I still kinda want to climb those big trees when I walk by.
• The First Baptist parking lot is where I proposed to Polly Lee.
• Coach Buddy Sasser lives next to First Baptist. He recruited me to play football at Wofford, and kept my scholarship intact even when I had to temporarily drop out with cancer problems. I will forever be indebted to him for that.
• Just down the street was where Mrs. McBride, my sweet 1st-grade teacher, lived.
• Conway Middle School blasphemously rests on top of the grave of Conway High School. The REAL Conway High School. I’m all for progress and pragmatism, but I’m still not over the demolition of CHS. There are too many memories there to even start a list.

Give me time, and I could fill another page with memories. And then another. And another. I love me some Conway.