The Bubblegum Field

Finding God in Unlikely Places

Those very early years, when things begin to take shape and impressions to form, were spent for myself on Windermere Avenue in Windsor Ontario. It was a tree lined street with small brick houses. It was very ordinary. We didn’t live like Kings.

My sister and I were a team back then. We did things together. One day she came running down the street excited with some good news. Our allowances had been raised to 50 cents. Frankly, I was surprised this happened without me present. Whatever the reason or the cause, I wasn’t about to hold an inquest.

I was surprised because I thought we were still being punished for the string of candy heists. Someone in the neighbourhood IDed us and our gang, including a 2 year old, was thwarted. Ruth and I were grounded for 2 weeks. The raise in our allowance meant we were truely redeemed.

The strangest thing about that street was the field on the corner. We had to cross the field on the way to school. We both walked to school. Ruth was older by two grades. She walked me to school on my first day of Kindergarten.

We started to find pieces of Double Bubble chewing gum in the field. Sometimes it was a gold mine, sometimes it was scant, but it was there. On rarer occasions we found sticks of Juicy Fruit gum.

I looked for clues to the origin of our self made fortunes. There were no real views onto the field. Ruth and I discussed if this was something we should accept. We did. I tossed around the idea of a predator but I dismissed it because, the gum was real. It was wrapped and no body was around or coming to get us.

I treated it like an act of God. There was some sweet kindness to the universe after all. It meant there was a way a 5 year old could benefit independantly of their parents without breaking the rules. At some point, my sister stopped coming with me or I ditched her, because I started going alone when I needed to confirm my faith in all things good and right.

Maybe that explains why I found God in the field as well. I searched for God. I think all children seek God in more profound ways than parents understand or offer. I was actively looking for evidence and form. So, one day, I took a stick to a mud puddle in the field. The lines I traced with the stick in the mud at the bottom of the puddle billowed into gentle multi toned grey design that created itself, expanding ever on; good enough for me. I decided that was God or evidence thereof.

Those expanding mud clouds were more Godly than anything debated over in my home. So, I went home and asked my mother what was the word for a person who doesn’t believe in God. Aethiest. Perfect! That was me. That is how I became an aethiest at 5 years old.