Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Mom! Smile! It’s the Fourth of July and you’re holding dessert!

During one of our school devotions in kindergarten (or maybe 1st grade?), Miss Loescher covered Matthew 7:7-11. My childhood brain interpreted the lesson as “I can get anything if I just ask for it!” To test this out, I went home and asked my parents if we could get a cat. They immediately replied, “Yes.” I was stunned. It worked! How far would this go? “Can we get two cats?” “Yes.” WOW! It turns out they had already been talking about this so I just had good timing, but at the time I was pretty amazed at how applicable that particular Bible devotion was to my life.

At the pound, Rachel and I each got to pick out a cat. After we had picked them out, we were told that we had picked two cats from the same litter. Rachel named hers Slinky and I named mine Buttercup. I know Rachel’s was named after the toy, but I don’t know how I came up with Buttercup. I would like to think it was a Princess Bride reference, but that movie hadn’t come out yet and I hadn’t read the book.

Those cats lived to be pretty old. I was in college before either one of them died. That’s pretty amazing considering how much time they spent out in the woods hunting and being hunted.

Also, that’s an awesome belt buckle.

During the summers, the Hintz family would come to our house quite a bit for some great pool parties. I don’t have all the details behind the photo but my guess is that we’re having lunch before hopping in the pool (after a one hour wait of course!)

For the Christmas of 1981 when I was 15 months old, Grandpa Martens made a toy box for me. That toy box survived our family and then sat in the basement at Mom and Dad’s house. A few trips ago, Mom said that the toy box was mine if I wanted it. At first it seemed silly, but then I started thinking about what we were going to do with Elijah’s toys. Should I build something similar? Wouldn’t it be cooler to have the actual toy box that Grandpa Martens made?

On this last trip to Indiana, Dad and I hauled the toy box to FedEx and got it all packaged up for shipment. It wasn’t cheap but it probably cost less than buying all the wood and the stain and it means a lot more than if I made it! The box made it out here without any damage (other than what we did to it as kids.) When Elijah is done I’ll probably refinish it but he’ll just add his own knicks and scuffs to it anyway.

The left photo is me sitting on it in 1981 when it was brand new and on the right you see Elijah sitting on it. I love seeing this in our house!

GregF’s wife recently changed his Facebook profile picture to one of his school pictures (unbeknownst to Greg.) That got me thinking that I probably have some pictures of him too. As I was looking through those types of photos, I found this gem from my 1988 birthday party. I was apparently showing off by climbing the rope while Greg was launching himself off the ladder.

As I’ve been getting started on our huge landscaping project, it seemed fitting to show a photo from a project back in Indiana. Dad was rebuilding the back terrace retaining wall and there are a couple photos of me digging post holes decked out in my elementary school all-star baseball shirt and high school baseball hat. I don’t know why that was the best work wear. I do still have my high school jersey though. Maybe I should wear that while working out in the yard now?

Elijah got his first haircut recently so I thought it was fitting to show the first time that I had my haircut. It’s hard to make that first haircut for your child. Mom and Dad got some help from Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dean to make those first snips of my hair. It looks like it was a surprise attack in the middle of a croquet game.

It’s been just over 10 years since Grandma Hinkle passed away. Here’s a photo of Grandpa and Grandma Hinkle with Michael, me, and Rachel from left to right back in 1983.

I should have used this closer to Easter, but I couldn’t pass it up. This is a photo of Grandpa Martens helping me dye some Easter eggs.

In 1987, we took a vacation to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. There was a lot of fishing involved. I don’t have anything against it, but I don’t think I’ve been fishing since then.