October brings Autumn Alabama memories to my mind, trick or treatin’ and pumpkin seeds, haunted houses and Halloween carnivals, rolling yards (see my earlier blog) and giant cardboard box mazes! Okay, I know you were with me until the maze thing, but honestly one of my most vivid and awesome memories centers on the monumental task of building a giant refrigerator box maze in our church gymnasium every October.
Our Associate Pastor was a rather innovative fun-loving California dude with unkempt hair and a need to tell stories to everyone he met. Oftentimes he would repeat these stories as the listener pretended that it was being told for the first time. After all, we didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Anyway, one Fall back in the 1980s, he came up with an ingenious plan to construct a very large maze out of large cardboard appliance boxes and massive amounts of duct tape. He decided this would be accomplished best in the church’s gymnasium. Since I was part of the volunteer leadership at this point in history, I earned the opportunity to work my tail off during the construction phase of the maze. However, when all was said and done my time-sheet was not nearly as impressive as others who worked on the project.
The result of this labor of love was quite impressive. It was a rather complex enclosure of twists and turns that confused many youth during the October weeks. It went up and over itself. It went in circles. It went everywhere it could go in that church gymnasium. Of course there were those who occasionally panicked and screamed at the top of their lungs to be removed from this torture chamber. Anticipating this situation we had built in emergency exits where these frightened individuals could be pulled to freedom by one of the maze monitors. We also had fans blowing fresh air into the maze at various locations.
All in all it was truly an experience I will never forget. I don’t think I have seen anything like it since. Hmmm, maybe it’s time for the maze to be reborn…or, maybe not.
From my desktop to yours…did I mention that I used to help the girls find their way through the maze? Hey, I wasn’t married yet and besides, it was the nice thing to do, right? After all, it was really dark in there, and they could have been scared. Okay, so maybe they thanked me once or twice. Hmmm, no wonder I remember the maze so fondly. 
From my desktop to yours, it’s another Alabama memory.
