True Story

Nathan Sardoni
Passing on the Legacy
Life is a funny thing when you sit down and think about it. Reading this story has brought back tons of memories I have as a child. I think all children have a similar story in that they meet someone and for some strange reason they just click. This young man had an awesome relationship with a telephone operator when there was no real reason for it other than they had an awesome relationship climate. The two parties knew what they wanted. The operator just wanted someone to talk to on a non business level which probably helped her as a stress relief. Talking to little kids and helping them figure stuff out has always been one of my favorite things to do and I feel that Sally feels the same way. As for our young friend Villard he just had a ton of questions that needed answering. During his childhood he knew he could always rely on the operator to answered all of his question. They had a perfect relationship because they each got what they wanted as much as they needed it, answered questions and a young child’s company.
In my own life I had an awesome relationship with my big neighbor Shane Favorlick. He was the man. When I was 5 years old we moved into a home in Alta Loma CA where we had another LDS family as neighbors. They had a 24 year old son that was attending the local Junior College who was a huge adrenaline junkie. Shane was awesome to a young Nathan for many reasons everyday on his way home he would do a wheelie up the street on his motorcycle to which I would run outside and watch him. Then if I was lucky which happened about once week we would be over an hour later asking me to come out and play. Shane taught me how to ride a bike my first summer there and when I was 6 years old he taught me how to ride the bike off his roof into the pool below. Riding bikes was not the only thing that Shane had me ride on but his family also owned two huge Bull Mastiff dogs. They were like horses and liked to be ridden like horses. Now many of the things Shane taught me to do were strictly confidential and he never had to tell me that. He always knew when we were having fun and when I was totally scared out of my mind which happened no often enough judging by all the scares and stitches I have from that time in my life. One of the happiest moments of my childhood was when my dad and Shane rigged up a huge rope swing that went at least 25 feet up to the top of one of our trees. It seemed like a nightly ritual when my dad would come home from work and then magically Shane would stop by to pull me on this massive swing. I would be sitting in the little car wheel seat when the two of them would grab the chain and pull it across the yard. This would make the swing seem like a zip line and then they would give it a rug and let go. The swing was long enough that I would fly up over the fence into other neighbors yard. I think it was then that I learned to love the wind blowing through my hair and how I learned to cope with terror and joy at the same time.
My relationship with Shane was perfect in my eyes. I wanted a friend and someone to play with. With my dad starting a new job as an attorney he couldn’t be around in the early afternoons like he used to be. Now Shane was never my dad but he did teach me a lot about having fun. To this day I know some of his legacy is still in me and that one day I too will pass it on. You could say this is my tribute to him for hanging out with a young small kid 20 years his junior and still laughing while he was at it. Shane after a little while moved out on his own and got married and I hope that his experience with me helped him prepare in some way for that new and ultimate adventure he is now a part of.