RBD

I recently heard a radio commercial that said, "What are the three most feared letters of the English Language? I.R.S." I am sure that for many, that may be true, but while growing up, there were three letters that were by far much more greatly feared...at least for Chrystal and me. Those letters were "R.B.D."
So what is RBD? Well, it all started around 1987 at the Moraine Heights Baptist Church around 5:00 p.m. one Sunday afternoon.
At that time, our father was the Music/Youth Director of the church. This meant many things, one of which was choir practice every Sunday night before church. Now if you have never been to Moraine Heights Baptist Church, you should definitely go, especially if you are a kid. There are so many fun and adventerous things to do there. There are old ruins of a castle or mansion in the woods with rooms underground, writings on the walls, and interesting artifacts left lying around. There are cracks in the stair well walls that take you upstairs that look like animals and words. There are rooms full of cool props to play with, foosball tables, ping pong tables, a gymnasium...not to mention a parking lot perfectly paved and seemingly desinged for riding a bike-with even a 'hump' in the lower left side that was a perfect ramp right into seemingly a never dry puddle. There was a car port outside that was four giant cement squares...perfect for a killer four square game. There were only like 9,000 pews in the auditorium, at that time tile hallways perfect for sliding in socks, hideouts, and perhaps the greatest building for hide-n-seek ever!
Needless to say, Sunday nights before church, the hour of choir practice was the funnest of fun times for us and our friends. It was on one of those Sunday nights that my mother came up to us and first said to us those dreaded words, "Who has RBD tonight?" What was this RBD she spoke of? What was it we had or were about to get? Many things went through my head. It was an exciting thought until we learned that RBD stood for Rachel Burke Duty!
Rachel was at that time 2 years old. To have RBD meant you had to keep her in a pew while she played with her toys. Oh the horror! All of our friends playing and having so much fun while one of us sat imprisoned on a leaf green pew. It was most unfair. Each week we took turns, unless, that is, either me or Chrystal had gotten in trouble that week-then part of punishment was RBD.
Now, let me stop...this is in NO WAY a reflexion upon Rachel as a person. She is the bestest! It was just a selfish childish feeling that Chrystal and I had while growing up. But to this day, the hair on the neck stands, the goosebumps rise, the shake of the hand begins, the eyes open a little wider in dread at the hearing of those three letters:

RBD.