Your Favorite Childhood Memory [Archive]

Diva

02-25-2010, 04:34 PM

The title says it all.....what is YOUR favorite childhood memory? Let's say 15 years & under.....

This is a happy thread.....

One of my favorite childhood memories was when I was about 6 or 7....I still believed in Santa Claus......

My parents and I were watching TV in the den. Our tree was in the living room and all of a sudden, I heard a very booming "HO! HO! HO!" I will NEVER forget the look on my Daddy's face when I looked at him in surprise! HE acted surprised, TOO!

When I ran into the living room, all of Santa's gifts were in front of the tree (We didn't have a fireplace)! (That was the year I got the Bride Doll!)

Later, I found out that our tree, which was in front of our living room windows, hid the fact that one of the windows was opened just a bit. My Daddy had arranged for our neighbor, Junior, to come over and be Santa. (This of course, was in the days before a neighbor in Your bushes wasn't considered a Peeping Tom! <giggle> )

Blade

02-25-2010, 04:46 PM

WOW! Great thread topic Diva!
I'll have to think about it and come back as there were many. I had a great childhood, I wish kids today could experience the things I did.

Queerasfck

02-25-2010, 04:58 PM

Probably when my family and I were living in western Pennslyvania, in a really small town. I was in 5th grade. I was miserable in school but after school with my neighborhood pals we played a lot of football (it was here that I came to love the Pittsburgh Steelers). Everyday we were trying collect wheels from anything to build the world's greatest go-cart. We also built a cool fort, hung out in trees, practiced the catch and release program with frogs, toads, salamanders, snakes, and crayfish.
Also that summer I held a carnival for muscular dystrophy. I trained my dog Spot to perform tricks in it.
We walked to Kelner's market bought candy and comics a lot too. I had to steal my dad's change to keep up with my comic book habit. I got in trouble for that.

Apocalipstic

02-25-2010, 04:58 PM

Cool idea Diva!

Most of my favorite times involved books. My first trip to the library, learning about Egyptology from National Geographic, learning to read on my own.

Will ponder and be back with more. :)

GeekBear

02-25-2010, 05:18 PM

My favorite childhood memory was when I was 7. it was christmas eve and the whole family was there, we had just had dinner and it was time to open the presents. there was a big box under the tree and it had my name on it, i could barely stop myself from jumping up and down with excitement. my gram knew that I wanted a nintendo, all of my friends had one and I think i talked her ear off explaining just what the heck a nintendo was and that I had to have one. she told everyone else in the family that she would get the nintendo and so everyone else got me games, controllers, everything a baby geekboi could want. I tore open the paper and there it was...my first love, a brand new nintendo. after all of the presents were open, my uncles helped set it up for me and I was in awe, i just sat there for the rest of the night watching mario jump across the screen. ahhhh the bliss, I was in heaven. not only did I have the present I had wanted for forever, but I knew that my whole family cared enough to make it the best night in the world for me. they watched my play all night. I am a video game addict to this day but nothing beats the original NES. thanks gram :) I will never forget that christmas. :pacman:

Linus

02-25-2010, 05:22 PM

I have few childhood memories (possibly a good thing) but I remember one specifically. My aunt, who is only 8 years older than me, was babysitting me (I was probably 4-5) and I remember her making me my favourite sandwichs: a triple decker peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich. While making it she had Elton John playing in the background and was dancing around the kitchen. To this day, visiting her house is always a fun experience and a place I feel safe to decompress at.

And now and again, I still indulge in those and listen to Elton because of her.

Andrew, Jr.

02-25-2010, 06:06 PM

My favorite childhood memories are that of playing football, baseball, tennis, and exploring the woods and streams behind my parents home. I knew there were Indians there once before because of how the springs. I so wanted to find an indianhead. And with luck I did. All with my best friend, Frank. He and I were the best of friends all thru-out our childhood. We did everything together. Vacations, our love of sports, and just being little boys. Life was just so simple for us. We could be ourselves with each other.

I will never forget the one time we borrowed each of our father's pipes and tobacco. We couldn't figure it out. But boy did we have a good time that afternoon. :pipe:

And we went to help pick out each others dog. A boy and his dog. :dogwalking:

Collecting frogs, minnows, and fishing in ponds. Going to the state fair. And then the discovery of girls. Life was good for a brief second with him. The next thing I knew we had grown up and drifted apart.

Hack

02-25-2010, 06:09 PM

Oh, easy.

I was about 6, and my grandparents took me to my first Detroit Tigers baseball game at the old Tigers Stadium. My grandfather had business in Detroit the next day. He wore a seersucker suit, and so did I, to the game. My grandmother simply sat quietly and smiled the entire time, probably hoping a foul ball wouldn't come our way and bean her, even though I had my Little Little glove and was quite adept with it. We were sitting near the first base line, in rightfield, and I got Sparky Lyle's autograph (Yankees relief pitcher) as he was warming up in the bullpen near where we were sitting. I still have it somewhere.

I went to a game each summer with my grandparents every year after that for about 8 years. But that first game instilled in me my passion for the sport.

Gemme

02-25-2010, 06:10 PM

One memory was of Christmas Eve and Day and Mom and I had had a good evening just being together and singing Christmas songs and watching the TV specials (Rudolph, anyone?). She put me to bed and when I woke, it was CHRISTMAS! Weeee!

Mom was always good with how she doled out my pressies, even when they weren't much to look at. I had a dolly at the foot of my bed and a trail of small gaggy type gifts that lead to our tree. I can't tell you what was under the tree, but I remember that doll at the foot of my bed and how nice and calm that Christmas was. It was all about the feeling for me and that night and morning felt wonderful!

GeekBear

02-25-2010, 06:21 PM

Mister Bent

02-28-2010, 11:41 AM

I grew up in central NJ where summer was hot, humid and prime mosquito feasting season. The particular and peculiar freedom of summer break meant no responsibility greater than making my bed and being home in time for dinner.

I remember the scent of honeysuckle, rich and sweet in the humid air, and cut grass that stained the toes of my Chuck Taylor's green. I remember the sound of our house, too large for just the two of us, silent and settling in the summer heat, the only sound the steady drone of the giant air conditioner in the dining room window, the drip of water into the pan below it.

In those days, before over protective parenting became a necessity, a single parent like my mother could cast her kid to the day and not worry that anything worse than a skinned knee or poison ivy would befall me during her absence.

I rode my yellow, banana seat Schwinn everywhere and explored new home construction sites and the town junkyard. I brought home scraps of lumber for my fort, and irreparable lawn mowers to "fix." I pounded nails into boards and I took the lawnmowers back to the junkyard.

MsTinkerbelly

02-28-2010, 12:05 PM

Strappie

02-28-2010, 12:29 PM

Laying across my moms lap on my tummie and my mom lightly scratching my back.... sure hope my gf when I find her will do that! I so miss that!

Strappie

02-28-2010, 12:32 PM

One of my very first memories are of my being 3 or 4 and lying down on the back seat of our parents car. We are being taken on a trip to a suprise location. I still have pictures of that day at Disneyland with my parents; my Dad so young and handsome, my sister and I wearing Micky mouse ears.

Isn't if funny how our parents use to have the HUGE cars, what I call boats and that we never wore a seat belt.

I use to sit on the arm rest in the front seat when we were all in the car. My 3 sisters sat in the back while I was up front on the arm rest (real safe) I remember once my dad having to slam on the brakes cause of a deer while I'm heading str8 for the windshield.... haha OMG things have changed!

Blade

02-28-2010, 12:53 PM

Getting my first puppy for Christmas when I was 4. Oh man I thanked and thanked my Aunt and Uncle who were really not my aunt and uncle they were my parents best friends from high school. Then found out that they just brought it to me cuz Santa couldn't carry her on the sleigh cuz it would be to cold for a puppy.

adorable

02-28-2010, 01:08 PM

My favorite childhood memory was when my brother got a nintendo. If I hear Super Mario Brothers to this day, I associate it with NWA's first tape and vice versa. It became an overnight addiction. I sucked at it. My brother beat the entire game before I even made it past level three. :pacman: <---I do, however, rock at pacman.

Blade

02-28-2010, 01:35 PM

I hated going to my Great Grandma's house because when I was little we always went after church which means I was stuck in a dress all day. But once I got there I loved it, she always had fresh homemade peanut brittle and homemade hard candy, fresh pies and fresh milk seemed like everything there was always fresh. I'd sit on her lap and she'd read Bible stories to me and Granddaddy would take me to the yard to gather eggs. I stayed with them occasionally on Saturday night and would get up early on Sunday morning and go with Granddaddy to start the fire in the church. He'd ring the church bell, yes on a rope, and we'd hurry back to the house and get ready for church. He let me try to pull the rope to ring the bell a few times but I wasn't strong enough to pull the rope and make it ring. But I loved to go there as long as I got there before Sunday cuz then I got to wear my overalls.
Chuckling.....yep you can take the boy outa the country but you can't take the country outa the boy. OR you can make me wear a dress but ya can't make me be a girl.

Soft*Silver

02-28-2010, 04:18 PM

Blade, some of my fav childhood memories come from being with my grandparents too. My maternal grandmother had a swell of a lap, where I sat, and she would reach into her enormous pockets and find plastic horses for me to play with! She would pull hair pins from her bun and make me flower dollies out of hollyhocks for me. My paternal grandfather would sit me in his lap and we would watch cowboy shows together. Bonanza was our favorite. Later in life, when I married my first husband, on our wedding day, me in my wedding dress and him in his tux went to the nursing home my grandfather was in. He had dementia and could not remember people who came to visit him..but I knelt in front of him and he cupped my face and very loud, said "BONANZA!" ....it still brings tears to my eyes...

owen4u1904

03-01-2010, 12:13 AM

Isn't if funny how our parents use to have the HUGE cars, what I call boats and that we never wore a seat belt.

I use to sit on the arm rest in the front seat when we were all in the car. My 3 sisters sat in the back while I was up front on the arm rest (real safe) I remember once my dad having to slam on the brakes cause of a deer while I'm heading str8 for the windshield.... haha OMG things have changed!

My dad had one of those old ford trucks with a camper thing on the back of it. I remember back in the day when was able to sleep in the back and move round in the back without worries of getting pulled over. Now if some cops see you they frown upon it and sometimes pull ya over...it sucks.

owen4u1904

03-01-2010, 12:18 AM

This one is hard, I went to alot of fun places when I was younger. But I think the one that meant the most was not even with my mom and dad. It was with my Aunt Feather, she introduced me to everything I love and I teach my daughter alot of the things she taught me. She is the one who introduced me to jif crunchy peanut butter. But my favorite of all time is when she popped in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Lets just say I got my 6 year old to enjoy this stuff and these kinda crazy movies. Which makes me sooo excited to see Alice in Wonderland next Friday! :)

Selenay

03-01-2010, 01:45 AM

It was the first really big snowstorm the city had seen since I'd been alive, and I, of course, had the flu. Because I was so sick, I was banned from going outside in the cold.

My dad brought two big black garbage bags of snow upstairs from the garden and filled the bathtub so i could play.

Words

03-01-2010, 07:22 AM

Sitting next to my grandfather - I must have been around 8 or 9? - while he patiently tore up little bits of paper and wrote notes on them prior to sticking them, with spit (!), to the keys of his piano and giving me my first piano lesson. I can still recall his smell and that of the piano itself.

It was wonderful.

Words

Butterbean

03-01-2010, 08:12 AM

Yesterday, I was laying down in bed and out of the clear blue suddenly had this vivid recall of Christmas Day at my grandparent's house.

I could feel the cold air outside and see the moon in the sky after a long day of fun. It was just like I was transported back to it again.

Then, I had this strong sense of my grandpa, whom I was very close with..his energy was so intense, it was like he was there.

I tried in vain, off and on the rest of the day, to haul that lovely memory back again but couldn't do it.

It was beautiful.

:smileyXmasTree:

Buttah

Lynn

03-01-2010, 10:12 AM

I'm pretty lucky because I have lots of happy memories. Most of them involve doing things with my family. I remember many summer weekend trips from PA to Atlantic City, NJ. This was before casinos, when people still dressed up at night to walk the boards. We didn't have a lot of money, so we stayed at a cheap motel, off the main drag, but at night we'd dress up and walk the boards with everyone else, stopping for a frozen custard while my dad talked about coming to AC with his parents. We were all burnt to a crisp from too much sun, but it was fun, anyway.

Soft*Silver

03-01-2010, 10:23 AM

I am so loving the sharing of these memories...

Random

03-01-2010, 10:42 AM

My best childhood memory...

Waking up with the wind hitting the tent..

No one was up, the sun was just starting to pink the sky... The wind was so absolutly warm.. wild...

I walked across the sand to this outcropping of rocks and sat there... Watching the sky lighten and the world wake up...

It was just me, the birds, the wind, the ocean and the sun...

For me it's my favorite and most vivid childhood memory because I think that was the moment I became aware of myself as a separate person..

Duchess

03-01-2010, 11:14 AM

I remember causing many issues with the town folk when a surfer friend of mine gave me a bumper sticker that read, "If it swells, ride it".:lol2:

Going on fishing trips with grandmother Daisy, my brother Eugene and that stealing bitch of a housekeeper, Janice..:fishingboot:

Watching scary movies with my grandmother. We'd hold each other and scream like maniacs..:hiding:

Getting together for Christmas was always my favorite. Dressing the tree, wrapping presents, cooking and hanging lights were some of my favorite moments, but the best was when my gay uncle would get a little tipsy and start cursing out everybody in drag queen fashion..GOOD TIMES..:lol2:

Duchess

Just_G

03-01-2010, 11:51 AM

Great thread Diva!

I remember when I was 4-5 years old, I would hear the garage door go up when dad got home from work, I would run into the bathroom and slick my hair over like he wore his, and I would run and hide. I would hear him come in, and he would start walking all over the house saying, "Now where is my little buddy?" "G, where are you?" "Hmmm, I can't find my buddy!" Then he would find me...it was always so exciting even though we did it all the time.

When I was 6 I started going to work with my dad on Saturdays. I would put on my little McDonalds jeans that had a matching vest so I would be dressed like my dad. I would sweep the floors with the big wide mop broom...making more of a mess than cleaning one up, I am sure. Dad and grandpa would both be there, working the crossword puzzle and giving me little chores to do so I felt like I was working. After the shop closed, he would take me for a happy meal because I "worked" so hard. ( I am now 4th generation in that business, but don't work for happy meals any more. :winky:) We have pictures here at the office of me all dressed up and "working" at the shop.

Some of my best childhood memories revolve around this business now that I think about it.

Blade

03-01-2010, 02:12 PM

Welllllll I guess I was almost 11. You know when you come home from school you have to put on your play clothes. You can't wear your school clothes out to play. For anyone who doubts it yes I was hard headed even back then.

My neighbors Dad owned a Yamaha shop. So he always had a few motorcycles at the house to play on. He had a 80 Enduro, and had gotten a YZ 80 for Christmas. I had gotten new pants for Christmas snickering......So I was watching him ride on the back wheel of his new YZ 80. Of course I couldn't let him out do me so when it was my turn I popped the clutch and stood it up several times but couldn't ride on it. Finally I got the front wheel up and rode about 10 feet on it and slid off the seat and my knees, yes in my new "Toughskins" drug about 20 feet on the concrete. NOPE I did not skin my knees, but I did wear a hole in both knees of my new pants. Now how do you hide 2 holey knees and how do you hide new pants. Well ya don't but when Daddy found out what I had done I tried to hide my ass but it wasn't to easily hidden either.

SIDE NOTE....NO my kids never heard me say change out of your school clothes. I bought their clothes for them to wear and wear out. Not out grow before they wore them out.

Apocalipstic

03-01-2010, 03:34 PM

I loved getting to go up in the front of airplanes and sit with the pilots during landing. The flight attendants would give me my own flight wings and sometimes I got to wear a pilots cap. *bliss*

They would show me the cool controls and I loved to see the lights of the cities and the ground and water looked like a topographical map.

I would spend hours memorizing the names of all the international airlines and the routes they flew.

(I know, I know....weird)

PinkieLee

03-01-2010, 03:50 PM

I remember being in the 4th grade, and an organization set up through the YMCA came to visit our school to talk about one of their new programs. It was called Indian Princess. http://www.yindianguides.org/indianprincess/about.htm

It was a father/daughter program that had monthly meetings at different member's houses where games were played, nature outings & camping trips. I remember being soooo excited that I signed my dad and I up for the program.... without even asking him. I brought home the paperwork and left it on the counter.

The next morning, my mother sat me down at breakfast and told me that I wasn't going to be able to join, because my dad worked two jobs and didn't have the time to do this (without my dad knowing this). I was crushed... until a few weeks later my dad said "come take a ride with me pumpkin". We showed up at a house, where I recognized girls from my school. It was the first official meeting of our local Indian Princess tribe.

We stayed in the program for 2 years... and still to this day he has a picture of us, at a camping trip, beside his bed.

julieisafemme

03-01-2010, 04:35 PM

Sitting in bed with a paperbook copy of Charlotte's Web and some home made chocoalte chip cookies from my mom. The pages had grease stains from the cookies. It was gray and foggy outside. I was reading the part at the end where Charlotte is talking to Wilbur and telling him she was going to die and he had to take care of her babies. I cried and cried...in a good way.

And sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags, mattresses and whatever else we could find. We sent my little cousin down and he rolled head first more than slid. We were frozen with fear when he go to the bottom that he was hurt and we would get in trouble. He crawled out of the sleeping bag and said "let's do it again!!!"

julieisafemme

03-01-2010, 04:38 PM

Isn't if funny how our parents use to have the HUGE cars, what I call boats and that we never wore a seat belt.

I use to sit on the arm rest in the front seat when we were all in the car. My 3 sisters sat in the back while I was up front on the arm rest (real safe) I remember once my dad having to slam on the brakes cause of a deer while I'm heading str8 for the windshield.... haha OMG things have changed!

LOL!!!! I fell out of the car in the backseat when I was 3 or 4. Just opened the door and fell head first. I was fine but had a big bump on my head. We had a Rambler station wagon with the wood siding!

Lynn

03-01-2010, 06:53 PM

When I was about eight, we stayed in a cabin at one of the PA state parks. I remember eating fish that my dad caught along with burnt instant mashed potatoes. They were the best potatoes I'd ever had. There was an outhouse, and I remember my mom telling us in the morning about stepping on something on her way to the outhouse the night before. We looked on the path and found a squished baby mouse!

Mister Bent

03-01-2010, 08:58 PM

One year, my parents decided to go organic (loved the 70s!) and started their own enormous garden in the backyard. Of course, this was supposed to be a family project, so we were all recruited. I was probably 6 or 7, my brother and sister were 15 & 16 respectively.

The tomatoes became my brother's special project, to my mother's delight. He applied their compost, staked them and became incredibly vigilant over them. My mother wrote a feature for the newspaper and did a series of articles on our garden adventure, one included a cartoon of my brother holding a shotgun, protecting his Jersey tomatoes.

I'm not sure exactly how it all came to pass, but it turned out that it wasn't the tomatoes my brother was protecting - it was the marijuana plants that he had carefully staked to the tomatoes.

Ah, the 70s.

AtLast

03-01-2010, 10:47 PM

I have many warm memories of my father and just being with him...

The times we wandered on trails silently with the dogs at our heels to find the right part of a creek to fish in are precious memories. We would cast and simply rest with the mountains around us. We never had to exchange many words, you and I. We just understood each other.

You taught me the love of dogs and horses and of a woman. And there was my time apprenticing under your keen experience with bicycle racing. What a gift to have had you recognize my muscular body as an asset and not belittle me for not being like other girls. You were proud when I sent an ace serve against the kids from families that didn’t want our family to be members of their precious tennis club. You said, “just walk tall.”

Write14u

03-02-2010, 12:18 AM

I had a ton of great memories.
My grandparents were the best.
I remember my grandad had this old van that he kept stockpiled with (mostly junk) he bought. I was around 10-11 and an avid reader. He and I would get up mad early on Saturday mornings and take his van to the flea market. We'd set up his table and I'd help him sell. As a reward, he'd give me about $2-3 and let me wander around and get anything I wanted. I always came back with books.

My great-grandmother lived until I was 12. Every morning I ever spent at her house, she would get wake my sister and me and cook us breakfast -- eggs, bacon or saugsage and toast or biscuits. Mmmmm, and apple butter. I think of her anytime I make those foods. They are my comfort foods.

Diva

03-02-2010, 01:52 AM

When I was a small child, visiting my Grandad & Granny Sweeten, I would sit on the grey bench next to my Grandad while he smoked his pipe. There is an indentation on the arm of that bench, where he would bang out the ashes (I guess they were ashes, yes?) of his pipe. I could have sworn, the last time I bent down to smell it ~ LONG after his death (1964) ~ I could still smell that sweet tobacco. I nearly cried.

I have begged my uncle repeatedly for that bench and he has always said no. I'm at the point now where I might just go and 'borrow' it. <giggle> Guess where he'd come lookin' for it first? To my back terrace, that's where!

Write14u

03-02-2010, 12:16 PM

I was 5 and at my greatgrandmother's house (my grandfather's mom, not the one with the apple butter). My cousin Cindy was this beautiful blonde with long flowing, hippy hair (it was 1975). I loved my cousin Cindy, but for some reason, I fell in love with her boyfriend Greg. I spent the entire day ensconsed on Greg's lap and tagging along after him. When my mom said it was time to go, I told her I would ride home with my grandmother. However, I forgot to tell my grandmother. They all arrive back at my grandma's house and I'm nowhere to be found. They have to drive back to the town over to my greatgrandmother's house.
Yeah, I'm still sitting on Greg's lap when they get there. *grin*
The family still teases me about this.

Gemme

03-02-2010, 02:48 PM

UofMfan

03-02-2010, 03:02 PM

It involves a diving suit. No comments Ms. E.

AtLast

03-02-2010, 03:08 PM

I have a picture, somewhere, of me when I was about 5ish smoking my gramp's pipe in their backyard. :stillheart:

LOVE this, Gemme! FIND that pic and post it!!! PLEASE!!!

christie

03-02-2010, 03:14 PM

My father was a business owner when I was young. On Saturdays, he would take me to work with him. Mr. Coffee coffeemakers had just come out and Daddy had one at the office. While he did paperwork, I would add things on this ginormous adding machine (the ones with the push buttons and the handle you pulled) and drink Lipton Chicken Noodle CupOSoup that he made with the hot water from the Mr. Coffee.

It isn't one of those automatic "awwwww" moments, but to me, it was the most special time. I often pick up CupOSoup and when the warm broth is in my mouth, I close my eyes and remember that Daddy was "all mine" for those precious few hours on Saturdays.

Enchantress

03-02-2010, 04:56 PM

It involves a diving suit. No comments Ms. E.

You know there is a reason you didn't get that diving suit. Just sayin' ...

UofMfan

03-02-2010, 05:19 PM

You know there is a reason you didn't get that diving suit. Just sayin' ...

So much for no comments from the peanut gallery...

BornBronson

03-02-2010, 10:42 PM

My parents were big movie fans.So it would probably be the whole family going to a drive-in and watching the movie while we kids sat up on the roof of the car with our blankets,pillows,and snacks.Watched all of Bruce Lee's films that way.

We'd also have campouts in our backyard during the summer.Me and my brothers would look up at the night stars,talking,laughing,feeling safe.

The big fresno fair was the best.That and going to chinatown on friday nights to play a game of pool.They allowed children in at this one particular bar that was a real favorite of my parents.Saw my first bloody man to man fight there.Mother broke it up.:popcorn:

Kissed my first girl at 5.I'll never forget her.

If you ask me the 1970's was a really great time to be a kid.

Then the 80's came and we all had to grow up :bigcry:

Write14u

03-02-2010, 11:49 PM

Running back and forth between my grandma (MaMa)'s house and my great-grandmother (granno)'s house. They lived about 20 yards apart. We kids had to coordinate so they only watched soap operas at one house and we could watch our cartoons and shows (Superman, Brady Bunch, etc) at the other one.

Rook

03-03-2010, 12:38 AM

I have a few faves...

• Collecting many different seashells, sea Glass & Coral "skeletons" at the Beach to make our own jewel boxes and wind chimes..the day was beautiful, the sand was white...

• My mothers Family rented a Cabin from my Aunts Boss, we had a BBQ every night that weekend, I spent most of my time getting "cooked" in the Jacuzzi...
There was no TV, no radio..Just pleasant conversation and outdoor Games, at Night we'd play board games, card games, or Read..the younger ones has crayons and coloring books, those of us Talking would settle on our Cots and banter...
It would be the last Family Gathering for 3 relatives present..
My grandmother{Natural Death, Age}...
My 2 year old cousin {cancer}
My oldest Aunt {cancer}

• My parents Divorce..Once it was Official, mum took us to the Beach, we ate a lot of food from the Kioskos, while enjoying Coconut Water {and pulp} She smiled and said "we're safe now...i will die before letting anything happen to my babies"

:rrose:

Jet

03-03-2010, 12:50 AM

The drive-in was really fun. I wore pajamas and we always took pillows and blankets and ice water and our own popcorn. We went to the drive in a lot. We had a big '59 Buick convertible with fins. My mom had a hard time parking it all the time. One night at the drive-in she parked it like 2 inches from the speaker and left it parked that way. At intermission, when we all went to the concession stand and bathroom, she accidently locked the doors except for the driver's door. The manager had to dig out the whole speaker and pole which was cemented in so we could get in the car. My mom held the flash light for him while he dug out the pole during the entire second feature...

I miss my mom.

My pajamas had feet in them and snaps around the waist. They were pastel green.

Blade

03-03-2010, 01:21 PM

We had a place on the lake a small camper back then, it was beside my great aunt and uncles place, they had a house. On Fridays my Aint Beatrice (that is pronounced B at trice, in the south) would pick me up from school and take me on to the lake and my parents would come later that evening.

I LOVED Aint Beatrice and Uncle JC. She taught me to play cards and would play cards for hours with me. From rummy to old maid and go fish any card game. Mind you they were in their 50's then and hadn't had little kids around for ages. But they both had the patience of Job with me. Uncle JC would take me to the bank to fish with a cane pole and he taught me to skip rocks, to bait my own hook and to take the fish off. Perhaps this is all where my camping and fishing craziness came from. He and I would go out in the boat and check his trot lines each morning and evening, and in the heat of the day we'd check the tires over on "Red Bank". Aint Beatrice, cooked the best food I don't ever remember not eating something she fixed except once. LOL

She fixed us eggs one morning and I was small maybe 7, and the pan had gotten to hot after she fried up the side meat, but when she put my eggs on my plate they had that fringie brown stuff on em I always called it "lace" I said Aint Bea I don't like lace. She said honey I wouldn't make you wear lace for nothin in the world. I said I don't like it on my eggs neither. Well needless to say, that was the story of the day. They laughed about that for years to come. I think everybody at the Marina and on that cove knew about my lacey eggs that morning.

As she lay dying, I went to see her when I was 17. I sat on the bed beside her and she said, "Bub" ya want me to go fix ya some fatback and lacey eggs? Made for a great last memory, me and her son laughed and then left the room and cried together knowing that was probably our last laugh with her. But it is sweet to remember today, thanks for the thread.

Gemme

03-03-2010, 02:13 PM

LOVEr it this, Gemme! FIND that pic and post it!!! PLEASE!!!

I was wearing a light blue parka I think and a VERY unflattering hair style. It was on a Polaroid.

I'll keep my eyes open for it!

AtLast

03-03-2010, 02:26 PM

I was wearing a light blue parka I think and a VERY unflattering hair style. It was on a Polaroid.

I'll keep my eyes open for it!

Oh, yes! The Polaroid days! Hope you find it!

Just found a 1954 pic (not a Polaroid!) of my maternal Grand Dad and me setting up a model train. Ah ... the old Lionel! Trying to get my scanner to work....
Now, I am off rummaging thru boxes to find my Santa Fe!!!

Lynn

03-03-2010, 09:39 PM

I love this thread....

I remember when we were staying at my grandparents' house for several months while our house was being built. I was about 9. My parents would go out on a "date night" and I would sit with my brother and grandmother in her room. My grandfather would be watching something else in the TV room, so we had to sit on folding chairs and watch the TV in their room. We'd watch "All in the Family" and eat pomegranates. I don't know why. But, I loved eating the individual kernals of the fruit. When it was time for bed, my grandmother would sit on the edge of the bed and tell us stories about Mickey and Minnie Mouse at the fair. She said she made them up from her "tummy."

Jet

03-03-2010, 09:52 PM

Write14u

03-03-2010, 10:46 PM

I totally love this thread, too.

I remember my first black eye. I grooved a fastball to my cousin Jeremy, and he sent it right back at me. I didn't cry, just went to put ice on it. I was 12 at the time. Had a wonderful shiner that included stitch marks running up from my eyebrow. Fortunately, I ducked just a hair and it caught me on my eyebrow, not the socket square on.

Write14u

03-09-2010, 11:01 PM

It was September, 1983. I was 13 and my uncle, a former University of Alabama football player, wanted to see the new head coach, Ray Perkins, in his first game following the death of coaching legend Paul "Bear" Bryant. My uncle, my grandpa and I went (and probably my aunt). I remember eating a slab of ribs on white bread, sauce dripping down my chin, and then going to the game (vs. Georgia Tech). It was football and I was hanging with my grandpa and uncle. Good times. And a total precursor for my career path.

Diva

03-09-2010, 11:54 PM

When I was in elementary school, we lived on Glenhaven....a most perfect cul de sac street. In front of our pink brick home sat THE most perfect mulberry tree....and the branches grew in such a way to make it a flawless tree to climb!!! In fact, there was a look~out tower.....there were 2 branches on 'the first level' that ran parallel and made THE perfect place to sit and dangle one's legs. Just above that and over a bit was another branch ~ parallel to the 'bench branches' ~ so if I WANTED to, I could swing off of it to get back to the ground.

It was the most perfect tree and I spent a lot of time in that tree.

When I moved back to Austin in 2007, I went back to visit that house.....the tree was gone. I cried.

Gemme

03-10-2010, 02:56 AM

When I lived in Brookhaven, we lived on a quiet residential street and had a giant sewer type drain that ran perpendicular to the street under it. It actually ran quite a ways. I would go traipsing and exploring in it for hours on end. It was like living outside of myself and my world since I could hear the world go by, but it was muffled, like an out of body disassociation thing. I liked being hidden in plain sight.

My backyard at that same house backed up to a small wooded area. I played in there all the time. I couldn't sit still while in school or with my 'rents, but I could sit in one position for several hours while watching the animals there. It was so quiet and peaceful.

Leigh

03-10-2010, 04:12 AM

I have so many favorite memories from My childhood, but I think My most favorite were with My Papa (My mom's dad). He was a truck driver, and I remember fondly taking many small trips with him to pick up loads or just to ride around. My mom even has a picture of Me in the living room of the house I grew up in as a small child wearing his big tan work boots (LOVE that pic) :D

Random

03-10-2010, 11:00 AM

Isn't if funny how our parents use to have the HUGE cars, what I call boats and that we never wore a seat belt.

I use to sit on the arm rest in the front seat when we were all in the car. My 3 sisters sat in the back while I was up front on the arm rest (real safe) I remember once my dad having to slam on the brakes cause of a deer while I'm heading str8 for the windshield.... haha OMG things have changed!

OMG... I remember sitting on the side of my uncles jeep.. clinging to the roll bar... We probably had about 9 kids in the back.. sitting on the sides, floor, and the seats... Lol.. My uncle was a safe type though.. No one could stand up and hold onto the roll bar....

I would faint if my son did ANYTHING I did as a kid.... oh my.....

Lynn

03-10-2010, 12:05 PM

I'm thinking of the time that my father got ready for us to go on a family roadtrip vacation. He packed the car "just so," with most of the luggage piled from floor to ceiling in a column in the middle of the back seat. This was a wall he built to maintain space between me and my little brother. We picked and fought constantly, so my dad came up with a plan to have a peaceful car ride. There we sat in the back seat, unbuckled, with a mountain of stuff between us, unable to see or touch each other. It was probably the most boring ride of our lives! These days...there is so much wrong with that picture! :huhlaugh:

NJFemmie

03-10-2010, 12:40 PM

Wow, I have quite a few of them.

Most of them consisted of being with my mother. My mom enjoyed taking day trips - and of course, I was right by her side. She would often visit the Statue of Liberty (we lived in Jersey City and it was a hop-skip-jump to NYC)... and we would picnic on the island and take boat rides along the Hudson (hence my love of boats). Looking back, I am wondering if her excursions were to get away from my father for a while, lol...

I always had a blast with my mom. Just about every weekend there was a trip going somewhere....

NJFemmie

03-10-2010, 03:18 PM

More of fondest moments as a child was growing up with my nephew Kevin. He was such a character. Together, we were like Bonnie and Clyde, Frick and Frack, Trouble and More Trouble. The antics we would get involved in were hysterical - and we would constantly get into trouble when we were together. He was my best buddy growing up - the kid brother I never had. As we got older, I remember coming out to him, and he was just so cool about it. He was one hell of a kid.

Kevin passed away shortly after his 18th birthday. It was a hard blow. But I am forever thankful and grateful for the moments we did spend together. Next to my mother, he was the reason I smiled a lot as a kid.

torchiegirl

03-10-2010, 03:22 PM

playin' in the red georgia mud

casey35

03-10-2010, 03:45 PM

Was when i was a kid and living on a farm. My dad would come in and sit in his recliner and i would pull out my tractor with my plow and pretend to plant grass for hair on my dad head. To this day that is my fondest memory of my dad. I love him so.

Write14u

03-10-2010, 09:49 PM

playin' in the red georgia mud

We got plenty of that red clay over here in Alabama too.
Some of my fondest memories revolved around playing ball. My socks had a permanent red tinge around the ankles.

Two stories:
1) I also had a permanent tan that ended at my ankles. I would go to chuch (excruciating time spent in a dress because of the church beliefs) and there was this one lady who always teased me about my tan line. Loved that lady dearly. That was our running joke.

2) I remember being 8 or 9 and our church was building a parsonage next door. My sister and I slipped outside to check it out and umm, stepped about knee-deep into red Alabama mud. We spent the entire church service trying to get red mud off black patent leather Mary Janes (I think that's what they are called) and out of those white lacy turndown socks. Yeah, we got our asses blistered when we got home.

AtLast

03-10-2010, 10:22 PM

Another one of mine having to do with my Mom was going swimming with her during the summer. Always makes me remember the smell of Noxema... back then, there just wasn't all the suntan stuff, plus, she was most likely saving money.

I liked swimming next to her. Felt safe in a huge public pool. I was a very anxious kid and water felt soothing to me. But it was probably her being there with me. Sometimes we could have something from the snack bar, but usually, she packed up lunch from home. Tuna sandwiches and apples with juice is what I remember the most. Probably smell induced memory like the Noxema!!

Lynn

03-10-2010, 10:27 PM

I remember smells, too. They take me right back to places and experiences. The smell of chicken soup made with parsley and dill always takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen. No matter what holiday or occasion, she made a huge pot of chicken soup with boiled chicken, whole vegetables, and gobs of cooked parsley which, for some reason, I loved. We were all given big bowls, but my grandfather was served the biggest of all. She always served soup to him in a large, divided vegetable dish which probably held enough for four. The only place I get this particular smell is in my own home when I make chicken soup the way my grandmother made it.

Tommi

03-10-2010, 10:38 PM

Sat matinee of Lassie. They were giving away a Lassie Puppy to some lucky winner.
:dogwalking:
I won Skipper, a mutt who was black and white with a curled up tail, pricked up ears. more sheppard than Collie. My genuine non-Lassie doggie was my best friend for 15 years.

Jet

03-10-2010, 10:48 PM

Staying at my grandmother's was the best. She was a large Russian-German woman, who could cook anything. My childhood pal was my Uncle Johnny, my mother's youngest brother, who was a year older than me. I did everything he did, wore everything he wore, played with toys he played with and had blast getting into everything with him. When mama would smack me up the side of the head for something, which was always, my grandmother would say, "Give it to John, too, he needs it," just so I wouldn't feel bad. Then mom would bop him up the side of the head and I would laugh and laugh and laugh.

Anyway, one day, John and me decided we wanted a swimming pond in the back yard. So, we went in the garage and grabbed two spades and went out back and started to dig a little ways from the house, and down a slope where you couldn't see too well. We started about 9 in the morning. Every now and then, my grandmother would shout from the kitchen, "what are you kids doing out there? It's too quiet!" We told her nothing and kept on digging.

Well, around 6, before supper, we had dug a hole about 6 feet deep and about 5 feet round. So John went and got the hose and we got about 3 feet filled up and then we jumped in. About that time, my grandma called us in for dinner, and we couldn't get out because it was a mudslide in there.

So after calling us about 4 times, here comes my grandmother. "Oh my God, you kids!" She grabbed John by the arms and pulled him out and whipped the hell out of him. Then she grabbed me up and whipped the hell out of me...well, when mom came over, I got double from her

...and John laughed and laughed and laughed.

Soft*Silver

03-10-2010, 11:00 PM

I remember lilacs...bundles and bundles of them on a gigantic bush in the front of our house. It was a good 15 feet tall and about 10 feet wide and it blossomed profusely every spring. I would go and gather my mother gazillions of them and she would put them in a canning jar and put them on the table. I would sit under the lilac bush and play with my cats and dogs. To this day, when mom is around (she has been gone since 1996) it is her scent that allows me to know she is peaking in.

I also remember gathering dandelions and hawkweed...I just thought hawkweed was the most beautiful flower! And collecting clover buds and making chains of them for head bands and necklaces...

I was such a child of nature..I spent most of my time out of doors, up inside trees or under their branches. My feet were covered in mud and dirt. There is NO better pleasure as a child, on this earth, than to squeeze mud thru your toes!

Firefly jars...caccoons...blue butterflies...lady bug lady bug fly away home..first star out tonight...

oh...I am pining for the days I had when i had so many days....

NJFemmie

03-11-2010, 07:40 AM

For many years, my brother used to take us to a lake every Sunday in the summer months. Me and my two oldest nephews (who were relatively close in age) - would wander around the grounds looking for some sort of trouble to get into. It was a big lake - they held concerts at night, had concession stands - it was more like a very toned down theme park.

I was a massive tomboy as a child - and would always find a way to get myself dirty. During one trip - I was wearing a pair of brand new red shorts my mother bought for me - and I wasn't supposed to be wearing them until later that evening (aka clothes change). Well, despite my mother's warnings, I wore them, and I was determined not to get dirty this time around. I was looking sharp and I was planning on staying that way. I promised her.

Well.. as fate would have it - we (my nephews and I) - were walking on rocks along a stream ... minding our own business, not looking for trouble (for a change) and low and behold I take a slide on some mud and land ass first on a huge muddy rock.

I was so pissed. My day was shot and so were my shorts. I made my nephews walk behind me shielding my ass because I was embarrassed that I had an inch thick of mud back there. EVERYONE will know I took an ass dive. Oh, the tragedy.

I can still hear my mother "you can't keep anything clean can you...? I told you not to wear those shorts ... " *sigh* I was never sure she believed I didn't do it on purpose.

I still laugh at the picture in my head of me slipping on that rock. It was slow-motion, both feet in the air, BOOM I'm on my ass and mud everywhere.
It wasn't funny then, but it's worth a good chuckle for me now.

Lynn

03-13-2010, 10:20 PM

When I was about four or five, I remember going to synagogue with my grandfather one morning, probably a Saturday morning. We walked all the way, and then I sat with him on the men's side of the orthodox sanctuary. We stood up and sat down as the service went on, according to the prayers and traditions. The whole service was in Hebrew, and the prayers, chanted mostly aloud, but quietly, to themselves, sounded like sing-song mumbling. After a bit, I decided that there was nothing to it, so I started chanting along, quietly mumbling gibberish to myself, like everyone else. You should have seen how proud my grandfather was! :bow:

bigbutchmistie

03-13-2010, 10:23 PM

My biological mom always knew where my brother and I were... So as I got older I would sneak into the shed connected to the house to see pictures of us when we were little and to look at her picture...

And then I would lay in bed at night and dream of my mother... And want to be with her....

Soft*Silver

03-13-2010, 10:31 PM

oh honey...this just made my heart resonate....if I could I would swallow you up in my arms and hold you as the child you once were and let you dream your dreams....

My biological mom always knew where my brother and I were... So as I got older I would sneak into the shed connected to the house to see pictures of us when we were little and to look at her picture...

And then I would lay in bed at night and dream of my mother... And want to be with her....

bigbutchmistie

03-13-2010, 10:41 PM

oh honey...this just made my heart resonate....if I could I would swallow you up in my arms and hold you as the child you once were and let you dream your dreams....

Oh Ms Softness I didnt post that for a "pity" I posted it because dreaming of my real mom growing up was the best memory for me.... :) Thank you Hugs to you my friend

Soft*Silver

03-13-2010, 10:51 PM

you mistook my intention...I am not one to fuss with whiners or those who seek pity. I see the sweetness in your memory and just wanted to hold the child who loved so well, that which was his, but had to love from afar...

Oh Ms Softness I didnt post that for a "pity" I posted it because dreaming of my real mom growing up was the best memory for me.... :) Thank you Hugs to you my friend

bigbutchmistie

03-13-2010, 10:56 PM

Strappie

03-13-2010, 11:38 PM

Every Sunday my Dad would pick me up from Sunday school and we would take a drive in the country. I absolutely loved it. I remember asking my dad everything to... Who lives there to what is growing in that field. I find myself taking drives now and in some way I think my dad is now in my seat (the passenger side) and telling me stories. He is there in spirit!

Jet

03-13-2010, 11:48 PM

Jet

03-17-2010, 08:41 PM

My favorite toys.

The Patton army set came with tanks, jeeps, trees, plastic rocks and an entire set of gray German figures.
Johnny and I spent all afternoon setting them up and then mowing them over with a bowling ball.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/toys.png

The pump was a bitch, I played with the pistol much more.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/guns.png

Lynn

03-17-2010, 09:14 PM

My brother and I have many famous fights. We were brutal to each other, and my parents didn't try to teach us to treat each other better.

I remember when I was about seven, I had a pajama bag that I kept on my bed. It was a stuffed octopus dressed as a rock and roll player, complete with a guitar, granny glasses, and long, yellow straw hair that fell in his face. I called him "Shaggy Beatle." This was around 1966 or '67. I came home one day to find that my brother had given Shaggy Beatle a crewcut because his hair was "too long" and he looked "like a hippie." To this day, I am the open-minded liberal and he is the conservative accountant. :lol2:

bigbutchmistie

03-17-2010, 09:21 PM

I have a deep scar from my right arm.... From when during spring break one year at our Christian School. We lived on property from by the church and by the school.... I ran with my brother and his friend to our house my brother was getting some clothes he was going to stay a week at his friends, and I ran up the hill with them they got in front of me and came through our patio door into the other door leading into the house and slammed the door playing in my face I reacted by putting my arms up in front of my face to stop the door and my right arm went through the french door paneled glass slicing deeply into my right arm... It was white and you could see all the little vein looking things so it was deep. They had to take skin from my upper and lower arm to sew it back together. I still have that scar to this day :)

Rockinonahigh

03-17-2010, 09:24 PM

My grand parents and I were very close,I miss them so much,I wish they had lived to watch my son grow up then for him to learn things from his great grandpa & great grannie.One of my many favorite things we did was when gramps amd grannie went to town for supplies,we lived wayyy out in the sticks folks.There was a place called Richardson Farm Supply(wich still stands today) that u could get about anything under the sun at.They had a coffee murchant that roasted beans and ground them up for ya,then there was a bakery where ..before we headed home ..we stoped for a bite to eat.OH let me tell ya they made the best cream puffs any where..they were huge to a small 5yro.I always ate one after my lunch and got one to take home for later.I ask both of them so many questions about this and that till I fell asleep with my head in grannies lap to barely wake up as she carried me in the house to bed..to feel that way one more time in my life would ne a treasure.

Lady Pamela

03-17-2010, 09:26 PM

I will call this memory:

The Human Slot Machine!

When this happened I had barely turn 9 years of age. My oldest brother Ron, asked me and my brother Don(three years older than me) to watch my nephew who was just 1 years old. And that if we would he would pay us. Sooo that is what we did.

When he returned he gave us both 4 quarters. Of course at the time, I thought I was rich! Being the strange kid I was...I put the quarters in my mouth. When Don seen it of course he told me to take em out. Sooooo...
I said," I got an idea!" Oh my was I not the brightest card in the deck!

I told my brother if I put my arm up and out in front of me...He could pull it down like a slot machine. It sounded cool to me...lol He pushed my arm down and I popped out a quart..Of course making some weird (girly type) noise for a slot machine...lol

He did it with every quater in my mouth till the last. But only one problem...The last one slid down instead of out...(Funny now but not at the time.) lol

He proceeded to hit my back, lift me upside down, shake me and even tried a few name calling techniques to get it out...lol He didn't want to get in trouble by MOM!

Well anyway, this ended up being a night at the hodpital and a very good lesson..."If you wanna play slot machine...Make sure it is made of metal!"

A dorky picture of me that year..lol
Wow..what were people thinking putting clothes like that on...lol

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h184/born2bdiffrient/Momat8or9.jpg

Jet

04-09-2010, 07:33 PM

Some of the best times we had was playing secret agent which was
very popular in the mid 60s. My Uncle Johnny, who I mentioned earlier
in this thread, and I each had a Secret Sam Attache Case
complete with gun and scope and plastic bullets that fired out of the
side by pushing a button.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/Picture9-3.png

We were die hard fans of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/Picture10-2.png

And we didn't miss watching Get Smart with Agents 86 and 99. Johnny had a crush on Agent 99. So did I actually.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/Picture12-4.png

And then.... there were The Avengers, with Diana Rigg who was Johnny's hard on for years.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/Picture13-6.png

And then there was the king of agents, James Bond.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/Picture11-3.png

It was a great childhood with terrific memories. We could be anyone we wanted to be and that included being a Secret Agent Man...

6iaR3WO71j4

Ldyluck88

04-10-2010, 12:37 PM

I remember visiting my Grandpa on the farm. We would sit on the porch, and he would light up his pipe(smelled like cherries) and I would sit on his lap and we'd talk. Sometimes he gave me a puff, lol I always coughed but thought I was big girl then!! Great memories for sure. :)

astarte

04-10-2010, 12:48 PM

My first favorite memory is not one specific day. It’s little blips that just made things feel safe and happy.

Lying on the hot concrete next to our pool after swimming all day…sometimes I’d fall asleep there.

Making clubhouses in our trees.

Playing flashlight wars with the kids during summer after dark.

Coming home from school and seeing my mom’s car in the driveway, which meant I didn’t have to go to the neighbor’s house.

Pretending I was going to be an astronaut someday.

Looking through the JCPennies catalogues at the prom dresses.

Cooking my mom breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day and her birthday.

Flying on airplanes – that moment were you got above the clouds.

Digging in our backyard looking for secret treasures.

That was fun…I’ll think of more another time. :)

AtLast

04-10-2010, 01:19 PM

Coming home from school and seeing the eye twinkles and look of love on my parents faces after afternoon delight. never had one problem with recognizing that my parents had heat for one another. Guess it was a good thing my dad went to work at 4 AM and got home early! Gave them time without all of us! Sure, I didn't quite get what was going on for some years, but when I did figure it out, I realized I was a very fortunate child.

Was it a perfect childhood, hell no! Had some very fine moments, though. Much to be thankful for.

Rockinonahigh

04-10-2010, 01:39 PM

Once I came home from school and one of my aunts was taking to my grannie about sex..she told grannie, at your age u should be done with that,both grand parents said at the same time..nope never will happen.My aunt was perplexed cause she didnt think of sex at there age was a good thing.To he sex was just or makin abies,now I think of it it may be what my uncle was so grouchy..he hardly got any.

Butterbean

04-10-2010, 02:23 PM

Yesterday, I was walking into a Target in Saint Paul and had this odd feeling suddenly of my dad walking next to me. Now, he was really tall. 6'5.

Then, I remembered how his gait was a bit off. I could precisely remember that right leg movement.

Thennnn, I remembered how much fun we would have going shopping. How did I go nearly 30 years and forget that? Wow.

Sure glad I finally remembered. The actual store:

http://www.bitroads.com/images/Pictures/BurnsvilleTarget.jpg

.

SassyLeo

04-10-2010, 02:55 PM

One of them...

When I was between 7-10, my dad was the Camp Director at a camp for kids with physical and mental disabilities. I would spend every summer there....

There were all kinds of activities going on every day...like arts and crafts, swimming, sports....I got to pal around with the camp counselors and help them with their groups.

One day, the activity was to make homemade butter. We took jars and milk down to the creek. We sang songs and told stories and took turns shaking the jar. When it was ready, we spread it on saltines and ate it right there.

:chef:

bigbutchmistie

04-11-2010, 06:45 PM

My adopted dad had his church secretary watch us sometimes when they were out on speaking engagements. I remember that was one of most fav times. My brother and I were able to play outside, and swim and watch movies. We werent able to watch tv, or swim together at home. I think of that woman often and thank God for her. Those times with her were some of my best memories.

Blade

05-25-2010, 05:13 PM

Not favorite but funny looking back on it. For my 7th birthday I got a red Huffy bike, umm yes a girls bike uggg. Anyway I also got a new pair of PF Flyers, they make ya run faster and jump higher don't ya know, but they don't make you fly and land easy.

My grand parents lived on a small hill in a new development, meaning the road was cut up every time a new house was built to run sewer to the house. I was so proud of my new bike and how fast I could ride it and so on.....I had to show them how good I was. I rode to the top of the hill, came buzzing down it, yes with a playing card and a clothes pin in the spokes.....I hit a pothole in the road and over the handlebars I went. Landing on my hard head, that must have heard 1000 times that day, slow down ya gonna get hurt, ya gonna tear up that new bike etc......Well of course I got up crying like a girl, scratched up my new bike, Moma was crying harder than me, I did have a HUGE goose egg on my forehead and skinned up knees and elbows. After all the crying was done, I announced if it had been a blue boys bike I wouldn't have got hurt like that :bicycle::rofl:

Jet

05-25-2010, 06:27 PM

My mom used to cut my bangs so short that I used to walk around with both eyebrows raised so they would look longer.

Jet

05-25-2010, 06:35 PM

My mom used to cut my bangs so short that I used to walk around with both eyebrows raised so they would look longer.She would say, "stop that! Or your face is going to stay that way!"

MrSunshine

05-25-2010, 06:51 PM

My little brother was the youngest of 8 I was number 7. When he was born the doctor's cut the umbilical cord too short and they had to remove the whole belly button deal and he ended up with a smilie face with dimples.
So, when I was about 5 he was 2-3 and I would catch lady bugs and keep them, with my hand semi cupped, in my belly button. (don't anyone call peta I always let them go so they could live). He was so fascinated that I could do that he would shriek with laughter.
When he died it was mid October in Michigan, cold, brown outside and gloomy. I came home from the hospital and the ceiling in the house was covered in swarms of lady bugs. It blew everyone away.:bigladybug:

gotoseagrl

05-25-2010, 07:57 PM

swinging & digging in the sandbox - very gratifying.

Emmy

05-25-2010, 08:04 PM

I'm not sure if it's my favorite, exactly, but it sure stands out.

I grew up in the woods in Canada- no cars, no running water, no electricity - with hippyish parents. Because they thought it was important to be totally honest with me, they told me there was no santa from the start. But later, I suppose they started to feel bad about it- what if they'd robbed me of some essential childhood fantasy? So, they created a stand in: Dr. Winter.

Dr. Winter was a dirty clown. He had a bedraggled-looking clumpy clown wig, and a grimy face. He was also mute. He came "down from the mountains" specifically for my birthday, when he would take me into the woods, give me gummy bears and a harmonica, and sit with me on the snow, silently, in a clearing for a bit. The extra-unsettling part was that we lived in a town of approximately 50 people, cut off from civilization but hundreds of miles, and this man did not look at all familiar to me. Creepy.

Andrew, Jr.

05-25-2010, 08:06 PM

Tying my shirt to the handle bars of my bike. I did it all summer long. Not one adult said a word to me. I was one of the guys.

GoofyLuvr

05-25-2010, 08:38 PM

In 76 we were living in MI. A huge blizzard came through, leaving snow up to the rooftops and everyone stranded in their homes. It was a blast for us kids. The snow was so deep, we could build these wonderful multi-roomed forts! The hours I passed in my fort, pretending to be an eskimo. Even tried to hitch my dog to the tobaggan.

katzietootle

05-25-2010, 08:51 PM

1.catching ladybugs,dragonflies and butterflies while wearing only underpants
2. playing with mud
3. cooking stems,leaves,flowers and after eating them....

Rockinonahigh

05-25-2010, 10:03 PM

When I was a kid we had his store owned by some folks who came across the water with my gramps way back ...anyhow they had and still after many generations,still have the same store...same name and all.Anywho on hot summer days I would ride my bike to the store and for .25 I could buy a big sour pickle..I 'd buy two cause I wanted one for later whan I got home.They were so sour it would near lock my jaw trying to eat it,to this day I still love sour pickles only I get them by the jar now...yum.

diamondrose

05-25-2010, 10:04 PM

traveling to europe by myself ( with assistance of course)to visit my family for summer vacations

Jet

07-18-2010, 04:12 AM

My cousin Alan used to make us sick. He'd take chocolate cake and stuff it in a glass and then soggy it up by pouring milk over it. made me gag like oatmeal makes me gag.

Anyway, here's dad and me and my favorite socks.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/62.jpg

RockOn

07-18-2010, 05:38 AM

I was six years old. One day in particular when my grandmother let me play in the rain. There was not a thunderstorm going on or any lightening so it was not dangerous. At my request, she fixed me up with my blue towel "Superman Cape" and let me go out in the rain and play. When I was little, I was always thinking I was a cowboy (i.e. Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, etc.) , a secret agent or an action figure. (action figure like Superman, GI Joe, etc.) And who was the TV cowboy good guy who had the beautiful horse with the blond mane named Champ??? I was him too. In these fantasies, I always got to be with the girl. LOL!

I tell you, I dearly loved my grandmother. She was dependable in that I always knew what she said to me was the truth. I could count on that every single time. I stayed with her a lot when I was little. Both my parents were alcoholic. I sincerely do not believe the poor souls knew fact from fiction. They did the best they could considering the circumstances. I indulged myself in the same addiction from teens until I was in my early thirties - 30 or 31. Then I had a moment of clarity one day where I saw I was becoming just like them. I did not like what I saw. I am one of the fortunate ones who sought and found recovery. A lot of people who are afflicted with this never make it into recovery. I am eternally thankful for it. Out of my many, many blessings, this one is the most valuable and I have a truly thankful heart for it - now and forever. I will always protect it. :)

This pleasant childhood memory I described here is not my favorite childhood memory but is certainly a high-ranker. I had forgotten about it until yesterday when I played in the rain with my dog. :) It is neat how things long forgotten will suddenly get triggered and come into your memory.

Was this too much information? LOL! It is all good today - one day at a time.

EDIT:
I am a big cut-up, love to joke, play and laugh but my sobriety is something I hold in high regards and take very seriously. It is totally my responsibility and only mine ... to keep it in a safe place. I am thoroughly experienced in doing this very thing ... and I really would not want it any other way. *grin*

Man, I need a second cup of coffee.

Peace.

Rockinonahigh

07-18-2010, 09:50 AM

When mom worked half days on saterday I would catch the trolly and ride down town then when she gt off work we went to the A&W rootbeer shop for ice cold frosted root beer and a burger,this place was set up like a soda fountain with all the fixings..then we would take in a movie or just go anywere we wanted.

Stearns

07-18-2010, 10:19 AM

Riding the Nancy Hanks train every summer to the Davison's in Atlanta for school clothes. It was bittersweet, as it signified the end of summer and the beginning of another school year, but I loved the train ride.

Glenn

07-18-2010, 11:50 AM

You mean besides playin ball with the gang, getting my first real bike, or making out with that hott little Mary Jo? Wow..soo many..well I'll pick one. Our gang lived on a spookey alley we called Snake Alley. This older kid use to dress up in a Dracula costume with the fangs, cape, makeup, the whole shot, and hide in Snake Alley around sundown. Our gang sat on the back steps every damn night wth our guns, talking, and waiting for Dracula to appear in the alley, and then we'd run home yelling Lol! I think our parents hired that kid.

chefhottie25

07-18-2010, 04:06 PM

the day my dad taught me how to ride my new bike.

SimpleAlaskanBoy

07-18-2010, 08:39 PM

Sitting in my grandpa's lap as he drove his huge CAT bulldozer.
Going to Alaska to visit my grandparents in the summer, or looking forward to their visit around Easter...
Feeding Jake, my grandpa's huge German Shepard or petting Kat, my grandma's mean white cat...
I miss them a lot today.
~SAB

cane

07-18-2010, 10:16 PM

Don't remember much of my childhood really, but I do remember my grandparents, and I'm very greateful for that.

Lynn

07-19-2010, 04:12 AM

Watching television in the basement rec room while my mom prepared dinner and we waited for my dad to get home from work. I used to watch Rocky and Bullwinkle, Sherman and Peabody, and Megilla Gorilla. I seem to remember Barbara Walters as a young news anchor. But, I could be making that part up.

Venus007

07-19-2010, 09:17 AM

My Pop told me that if you can remain still for an hour that the animals will forget you are there. I spent many quiet hours in the woods sitting just a little off a game trail and being still so I would blend in and watching the animals and birds coming and going.

I would lie in the grass and part it so I could see dirt. Then I would lie there, very still, and look at all the little creatures bustling about their business. I had a giant magnifying glass so I could watch their movements; I would make notes on them in my “field journal”, which was actually an old notebook my uncle gave me.

Jet

08-07-2010, 10:22 PM

When I was really little like '62-'63
we lived next door to a big family with
real good lookin' kids in high school.

The littlest kid, about 6 years old,
was named Butchie and he was
always hanging around where he shouldn't.

His sisters who were in high school
were gorgeous, and very popular,
and one night his
oldest sister Connie had a date.

So Butch was hanging around the bathroom
watching her get ready to go out. As it happened
the bathroom door was partly opened and he
saw Connie insert a Tampax.

He was a chubby, stocky little kid with white
curly hair and dimples, and he walked around like
he owned the house —real sure of himself.

So he goes into the living room where Connie's
date is sitting on the sofa waiting for her.
And Butch says, "Connie'll be with ya in a minute,
she stickin' a candle up her butt."

Here's remembering childhood, great stories and
the early 60s with Bobby Vee........

sCn3gG3jATA

Canela

08-07-2010, 10:40 PM

I wrote this for my grandmother (Guelita) the day of her funeral...January 14, 1998...this is and will always be my favorite and most poignant childhood memory.

AVER ESA MUNECA…

She was peddling hard on her sewing machine, trying to finish up the last little bit of the colcha (quilt)she was making. The Atlas sewing machine head on a Singer cabinet, modified for her so she would have her sturdy machine and a convenient cabinet to sew on. I must’ve been about 7 or 8 I guess, when I first noticed this gift of hers.

My Guelita, she sewed lots of things. She made curtains of all kinds, cojines (cushions), colchas, no doubt, and even clothes for me. And I would sit at her feet, in front of the screen door, while she sewed. She was sewing a short set (you know, a matching top and bottom)for me for school/play. Every time she finished a little more of it, she’d make me try it on. Then she could see where she’d need to make changes. Usually she’d cut a little strip here, a little piece there, and those little leftover pieces would float on down to the floor. I’d pick them up and grab my baby doll and try to wrap it around her little, chubby body in an attempt to create/design something too, just like Guelita was doing for me. It never worked quite the way I’d hope, but I still tried.

Guelita didn’t talk a lot, especially when she sewed. She concentrated on what she was doing, thinking her own thoughts and only God knows what those were. I was a little girl so she didn’t have much conversation for me. I just sat there quietly, and played with my doll baby and wrapped the little pieces around her and when I got done with that, I’d pick up the remnants of threads and roll those all up unto a little ball. Then I’d look around for something to do, feeling bored and waiting. I hated to wait. But I knew better than to leave from there. I never left.

That day, Guelita finished the outfit for me. Then she did something I will never forget. She thrust her hand out to me where I was sitting, waiting and said, “Aver, damela”, (let me see, give her to me)and even as she said so, I placed my baby doll in her beautiful, long fingers, her hand tired yet still strong and almost regal with her fingers extended in an impatient pose. I placed my doll baby in her hand and watched her as she brought her up to her machine, disrobed her and started to cut something for her from the same cloth as my outfit!

I stood up, excited but keeping myself at a safe distance so as to not exasperate her and cause her to stop. She was very fast as she sewed a few seams here and some there, and a hem and a flounce and voila! My doll baby had the exact same short set I did!

Guelita handed her back to me without a word. There was no pomp and circumstance, no big grandiose speech or even a little word of loving kindness. But it didn’t matter! In that moment I knew she loved me without having to hear her tell me so.

And that day, I loved her the most.

Duchess

08-08-2010, 03:41 PM

I absolutely loved selling Girl Scout cookies. Talk about a maniac!! If I wasn't number one in sales there was hell to pay. :)

Duchess

Jet

09-22-2010, 10:21 PM

I Love Lucy and the Flintstones

Tcountry

09-23-2010, 01:10 AM

hmmmm...I think it would have to be Thanksgiving on the farm....
The only time and place both sides (mom & dad's) would come together every year...to my mom's folks' farm. We ate great food and played football in the yard all afternoon. :) Then Grandpa would get out his old "put put tractor"(built the yr he was born) and we would take turns driving with him down the gravel road to the corner and back...

Greyson

09-25-2010, 11:48 PM

One of my fondess memories was when I was about 11-12 years old. I grew up in the City of Los Angeles and I used to be a "paper boy." I worked for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. (Like many newspapers it is no longer in existence and yes, there was a time when people sold newpapers on the corner.)

Anyway I sold newpapers on the weekend in front of a Supermarket. At the front of this store was a donut bakery. (We were poor and my twin sister and I had never had a birthday cake from a bakery.) With money I made from that job I was able to buy our first special ordered from the bakery birthday cake. It was made of cake donuts, filled with whip cream and strawberries. The look on the faces of my brothers and sisters when I brought that cake home, for our birthday surprise..... Let's just say a bunch of kids were very happy and stuffed with a bakery cake.

Soft*Silver

09-26-2010, 02:12 AM

My sister was 8 years older than I. She and my brother had the bedrooms upstairs. I use to sneak upstairs and look around her room. She had some round music powder boxes that I loved. It was the artful carve and curve of the designs, the scent and softness of the powder, the tender lilt of the music when the lids were taken off...but mostly it was about my sister's womanliness that I so wanted to bud into myself.

I loved the things ontop of her dressers. But those music boxes were my favorites. And if I ever find them in the antique stores, I will buy them.

My mother had a vanity and atop hers, was a gorgeous doll lamp with a full cloth skirt and a fan in her hand. I had never seen women like her before. I would sit at the vanity and put on my mother's rouge and her really red 50s lipstick and look wonderously at that lady. She had perfect bowed red lips and the most provacatively lined eyes...again, a testimony to womanliness. When my mother would put on make up, which was very rare for she was a true farmer's wife, I would sit on the chair in the room and watch my mother transform into someone I barely knew...someone who had a likeness to that woman of the lamp...and I so wanted to be a part of this wonderous club....

Jet

09-26-2010, 04:39 AM

Ryobi

09-28-2010, 12:05 AM

I was 5 and just learned the joys of chewing gum. I asked everybody if they had any gum. I spent every moment I could with my grandpa, who did not chew gum. I would ask and ask like some sort of gum junkie. I think the day he got truly frustrated with it was the day we were eating lunch and he told my grandma that after lunch, he and I were going to town to get a pack of gum. I was SO excited until he told me I only got to have 4 pieces out of the pack. (trident original was all I was allowed to chew.) I knew enough not to question it, a special trip and all. I just wanted to know what was going to happen with the 5th piece. When we got back from town, he took one piece out and handed me the rest, "one a day, Pan. I'm gonna check." (he called me Pan because I was his shadow.) and he put the piece in his shirt pocket.
He woke me up for breakfast the next morning and when I got to the table, there sat the gum and an acorn next to my plate. As I looked at them, he said, "if you're going to chew that much gum, you're gonna need a gum tree. Eat up so we can go plant one." I never saw a gum tree before but, I knew that he knew his trees and I wasn't going to say a word.
We walked out to the edge of the woods with a shovel, the acorn, and the single piece of gum. He gave me the shovel and told me to dig a hole for my "seeds" as he unwrapped the gum. We put them in the hole, covered them up and walked off to wait. I asked how long it would take for a gum tree to get gum. He said they grew fast and there should be gum by the weekend.
I went home that afternoon and all I thought about for the rest of the week was if I had a gun tree or not yet. On Friday afternoon, my grandparents picked me up after I got home from school and away we went. I asked if the gum tree grew yet. I had to know! He said he thought it might have started sprouting the day before, I should check it when I got there. As soon as the car stopped by the barn, I was off like a shot to the woods to check my tree. I found it, oh boy, did I find it. There stood an oak tree, about 4 foot tall, with 6 packs of trident original gum hanging on it. Jack pot! I was the happiest boy alive at that moment. When grandpa caught up with me, he helped me get the packs off the tree and told me 6 was perfect. I could have 2 and I could give all my sisters one. (they're way older so they didn't really care about the gum anyway.) Each time, for two summers after that, when I went to their house, the tree had 6 packs on it. He did it the second year just for fun because my big mouthed sister told me he was doing it. I loved that tree, and that man.
It wasn't until a few years later, he told me how it all took place. When I left that day, he went into the woods and dug and transplanted the small oak tree exactly where we put the "seeds". The packs were held on with green twist ties, I was so happy, I never noticed those.
Some friends of mine live near my grandparents old farm. I can see my tree from the road now when I drive by.

AtLast

09-28-2010, 12:53 AM

When I was 10, my favorite Uncle visited us during one summer. He was very handy and creative and just fun to do things with. My friends and me had this "car club" - we built "boxcar" type go carts from scrape metal, wood, old wheels.. anything we could get our hands on!

There was a neighborhood race we all were madly trying to build a cart that would win. My uncle helped me with mine and my best friend. He used some of the old hardwood flooring from our house that had been torn out because we had some termite work done for the frame and a bunch of other stuff we had around. It had an actual steering wheel (from an old '38 Ford he found at a junk yard). It was something! He waxed the floor boards with hardwood floor wax and everything!

My best friend and I won the race!!! Damn near got killed while doing it because our "track" included a very steep hill we just flew down with nothing more than the old wood block kind of brakes and our sneakers. No thought of a helmut back then. But, we made it. We were convinced that my Uncle was the reason and we had never built such a cool go cart before- nothing like this one, ever!

The other kids and me gave my Uncle a handmade "honorary" car club membership card. It was the size of a regular business card and had "Uncle Dominick, Go-Cart Builder" on it. It said he was a lifetime member of the Strawberry Point Girls Go-Cart Club. He put it in his wallet.

I never saw him again as he went back to New Jersey and became ill but did live until I was 22. My Dad went to see him before he died and then for his funeral. When he returned, he took out the card and gave it to me. My Uncle had carried it in his wallet all that time. It was frayed, but could be read. The go-cart was passed down for years in my family and did finally wear out- but not after many years of great fun!

Ryobi

09-28-2010, 01:03 AM

Atlast, I wonder, do you still have that card? Cool story.

Butterbean

09-28-2010, 08:10 AM

My brother and I had a standard joke that we'd pull on anyone who went to our cabin for the first time.

We'd get them in the duckboat, which was always the hardest part of the prank because they always wanted to go somewhere in the speedboat or pontoon boat instead. Anyway, then we'd row it out to the middle of the lake and one of us would discreetly pull the plug out so the boat slowly began filling up with water.

As water would begin swirling around our friend's ankles, we'd both have to fight not to laugh...and then we'd start in with the horrified screams and would tilt the boat to extremes out of "panic." Finally, we'd holler to get out of the sinking boat and keep in mind we were literally in the middle of a large lake. Then, we'd take dramatic leaps into the water.

Later, when we'd all be talking/laughing about it, the friend would always say, "I wondered why we took THAT boat..." LOL!

Whenever I remember the different friends we pulled this on, I laugh and laugh.

AtLast

09-28-2010, 01:20 PM

Atlast, I wonder, do you still have that card? Cool story.

LOL.... I sure do along with an old (way old, but I can't read it entirely, worn practically thin) coin my Grandpa always kept so he felt like he had some money with him!!!! Story is that it is the first US money he got when he arrived in the US in the late 1800's). Guess poor people back then didn't make a first "dollar" for quite a long time! In my wallet! That was a fun time!

Jet

11-04-2010, 10:52 PM

The summer after third grade I had to go to summer school for math. Tonight I remembered walking to school those mornings. God, being there was glorious in our small town. The mornings were crisp and perfect. I had no worries and life was full of fun. I didn't mind summer school at all. Afterward, my mom would have lunch ready and then we'd go swimming. That was the summer I read the Bobsy Twins and Nancy Drew. I rode a Red Chief bike, played with neighborhood boys every day and visited old Mrs. Getz because I liked her cats, Tillie and Murphy, and her cookies. Sometimes we'd play Old Maid. I played house with my first girl friend, Mary Jane. I was the dad. I really did have a terrific childhood....

Jet

11-05-2010, 09:22 PM

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/7-1.jpg

Me at 7. The nuns were always calling my mother because I was always in trouble. We lived in a big two-story house that my mother decorated beautifully. It had a sitting room that nobody was allowed to go into because she said she was saving it for Kennedy. My aunt Judy, who was 17, came to live with us after high school, and we're still close after all these years. This was the year my dad taught me to ride a bike—the same bike my cousins rode down the steps and bent the hell out of. Our house had a big front yard with lilac bushes and irises and the change of seasons were wonderful. I think I'd give anything to back to that time for just one day....

Jet

11-19-2010, 08:22 PM

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/grandmashouse.jpg

I have a lot of great childhood memories and my grandmother's house is one of them. I grew up there and had some of the best times of my life. My grandmother was married 3 times and had nine children. She was widowed three times and raised my mother and aunts and uncles working two jobs. At first, the 10 of them lived in a smaller 3-bedroom house. My grandmother traded $1.00 with an elderly couple for the house above. One dollar. The old couple couldn't handle the house or the steps so they moved into my grandmother's 3-bedroom house and my grandmother moved into their house for a hundred pennies? God, it was simple and wonderful then— in the early 50s. I have a very special love for my grandmother and there were no better times than all of us together in her house. Years later, I wrote and delivered her eulogy. "I wouldn't give you one penny for the culture, the technology or the lifestyles of today. I would give millions, if I could, to be 10 years old again in the backyard of my grandmother's house on some crisp morning, when the sun shone differently."

little_ms_sunshyne

11-19-2010, 11:37 PM

I was in second grade. My teacher would not let me go to the restroom because she said I should have gone when the whole group went. So I waited. Some time later I raise my hand and asked to go again, and of course she said no. I asked to go one last time and again she said no! I told her "If you don't let me go I am just gonna go here." There I was a determined little girl in a hot pink dress with highlighter green polka dots. She called my bluff and said no. I marched right up to her desk and PEED! :) I will never forget the look on her face. But hey, I gave her a fair warning :) I guess I have always been stubborn!

bigbutchmistie

11-20-2010, 03:27 AM

whenever my adopted parents were out of town we would stay with someone in the church. oh god I loved it.. and HATED when they returned

asphaltcowboi

11-20-2010, 04:31 AM

i was about 4 when we all were getting ready for church (me an 4 brothers) though how proud my mom would be of me getting all ready all by myself!!
we were all standing on the porch getting our pre church cleanleness inspection.. mom checkin theeth and ears and clothes..
i was so proud standing there in my lil dress an mary janes but when mom got to me she pulled up my lil dress to find i was wearing my brothers whitie tightie briefs an smaked my bottom "you go in there and take of you brothers underwear right now"
so i went in an took um off but ended up going to church "comando" and no one ever knew! told mom about 20 yrs later.

girl_dee

11-20-2010, 06:24 AM

fishing....

diamondrose

11-20-2010, 06:35 AM

my favorite childhood memory was my yearly summer vacation trip to see my father in germany. It was a neat experience.Also, all the awesome trips my dad would take us on with my stepmom, step sister,and step brother. It was always an adventure

Jet

12-19-2010, 09:31 PM

I hated this back in the day, but I laugh about it now.

I hated—I mean hated— my bangs cut. My mom always cut my bangs and she always cut them uneven. So to get them straight, she'd cut until there was like nothing left. I'd sit on the toilet seat and cry...

They were so short I walked around with my eyebrows raised so my bangs would look longer. I looked perpetually surprised and my mom would say,"stop that, your face is going to freeze that way!"

I hated bangs most. Second, were those goddamn anklets she made me wear.

God I miss her.

girl_dee

01-28-2012, 03:41 PM

Black magnum organ
White patten leatherboots, zipper up the side

Butterbean

01-28-2012, 05:53 PM

Summers at the cabin on the lake...

chai~

01-28-2012, 07:10 PM

bookmarking to come back later~

Kenna

01-28-2012, 07:47 PM

I have always loved this story... wish I had known my grampa. This story always makes me want to turn one of my trees into a gum tree in your grampa's honor.

I was 5 and just learned the joys of chewing gum. I asked everybody if they had any gum. I spent every moment I could with my grandpa, who did not chew gum. I would ask and ask like some sort of gum junkie. I think the day he got truly frustrated with it was the day we were eating lunch and he told my grandma that after lunch, he and I were going to town to get a pack of gum. I was SO excited until he told me I only got to have 4 pieces out of the pack. (trident original was all I was allowed to chew.) I knew enough not to question it, a special trip and all. I just wanted to know what was going to happen with the 5th piece. When we got back from town, he took one piece out and handed me the rest, "one a day, Pan. I'm gonna check." (he called me Pan because I was his shadow.) and he put the piece in his shirt pocket.
He woke me up for breakfast the next morning and when I got to the table, there sat the gum and an acorn next to my plate. As I looked at them, he said, "if you're going to chew that much gum, you're gonna need a gum tree. Eat up so we can go plant one." I never saw a gum tree before but, I knew that he knew his trees and I wasn't going to say a word.
We walked out to the edge of the woods with a shovel, the acorn, and the single piece of gum. He gave me the shovel and told me to dig a hole for my "seeds" as he unwrapped the gum. We put them in the hole, covered them up and walked off to wait. I asked how long it would take for a gum tree to get gum. He said they grew fast and there should be gum by the weekend.
I went home that afternoon and all I thought about for the rest of the week was if I had a gun tree or not yet. On Friday afternoon, my grandparents picked me up after I got home from school and away we went. I asked if the gum tree grew yet. I had to know! He said he thought it might have started sprouting the day before, I should check it when I got there. As soon as the car stopped by the barn, I was off like a shot to the woods to check my tree. I found it, oh boy, did I find it. There stood an oak tree, about 4 foot tall, with 6 packs of trident original gum hanging on it. Jack pot! I was the happiest boy alive at that moment. When grandpa caught up with me, he helped me get the packs off the tree and told me 6 was perfect. I could have 2 and I could give all my sisters one. (they're way older so they didn't really care about the gum anyway.) Each time, for two summers after that, when I went to their house, the tree had 6 packs on it. He did it the second year just for fun because my big mouthed sister told me he was doing it. I loved that tree, and that man.
It wasn't until a few years later, he told me how it all took place. When I left that day, he went into the woods and dug and transplanted the small oak tree exactly where we put the "seeds". The packs were held on with green twist ties, I was so happy, I never noticed those.
Some friends of mine live near my grandparents old farm. I can see my tree from the road now when I drive by.

Blade

01-28-2012, 08:55 PM

When I was a kid my Gigi would come and pick me up on Friday afternoon, so I could go to the high school football game with her and my aunt. My aunt was 9 yrs older than I was.

We'd get home from the football game have a snack and off to bed we'd go. I always slept with my aunt. She was so patient with me, I'm sure I must have had more questions than Trivial Pursuit.

As we lay in bed, she would try to ware me down by playing this game. She'd use her fingernail and write a letter on my back and I'd guess what it was, as I began to read she would write small words on my back for me to spell and guess and eventually she would write numbers or have me add numbers she wrote on my back. And yes I'd eventually fall asleep, and I'm sure she was glad when I did.

She became a grandma for the first time this past Monday and as fate would have it that would have been her mother, my Gigi's 85th birthday had she lived, and it was a little girl. I know she will be a super duper wonderful grandma.

girl_dee

01-28-2012, 09:02 PM

grinding the fresh beef at my Grandma's

strange woman, my Grandma.

SnackTime

01-28-2012, 09:35 PM

Spending each and every moment with my grandmother.

adorable

01-29-2012, 03:13 AM

Luckily, I was able to spend a great deal of time with my grandparents. Months at a time. Things were easy there, organized, clean - it all just made sense. No chaos. No drinking. No fighting. My brother and I were kind of treasured, like a reason to do all the things that they would do anyway. I don’t know how to put that into words exactly. Time spent, spending time. Enjoying each other.

They were fond of walking. When they got home from work, we would eat dinner and then always go for a walk. (Unless it was snowing.) The things we discovered on those walks were amazing. So many turtles, hawks, snakes, boats, fish and those weird brown things that puff into smoke when you step on them. I wish I had a dollar for every dandelion bulb or bubble that was blown. The whole point was to see everything you could, walk as far as possible and collect all the pretty rocks along the way.

They were fond of music and dancing. We learned how to square dance, polka, waltz, jitterbug, the Charleston, swing and Lindy Hop. I know all the words to The Three Little Fishes and the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. I can tell if I’m hearing Tommy Dorsey or Glenn Miller. I know that “The Shadow knows.” My grandfather always called me meisje and tried, to teach us all the Dutch he knew. (sigh) We watched the news, MASH, CHIPS, The Muppets, 60 Minutes, Magnum PI and Hee-Haw. Every single year for 12 years they took us to the State Fair, the pumpkin farm, and to pick strawberries.

On Saturdays we went for daylong drives to nowhere and learned important things like where they sold the best chili dogs, how the 60s screwed up the world and to always dress like you had somewhere to go. We spent a lot of time in creeks and swimming holes too. Hours were spent turning over rocks looking for baby lobsters. (I was seriously upset the first time I heard someone call them crawfish.) We would sit in the yard because the sun was out. We’d put little bags in jar full of water where it would somehow magically turn into iced tea - every single time. Hours of pouring over old pictures. Sundays were spent watching football, baseball or playing rummy, 21, or spit. So much fun and laughter. I wish so badly that I could turn the damn hourglass over.

softheart

02-02-2012, 08:23 PM

I had a little white basket on my bike and I would ask my mother to give me things to put in it. I just hated when it was empty. I would pedal down my street begging any adult who was outside, for something to put in my basket. This sweet old lady named Mrs. Jenkins would bake special treats just for me. Like cookies or muffins. I actually thought she was Mrs. Santa Claus just pretending to be Mrs. Jenkins so no one would know. We would have a tea party on her front porch. She let me drink real hot tea.When I would head off to play again, she would wrap some cookies up in wax paper for me to eat while I played. It was always a mystery to my mother why I was never hungry for my lunch.

Hollylane

02-02-2012, 08:44 PM

There was a sweet old woman for me too. I used to sell pictures I had drawn and colored to my neighbors for $.05 - $.50. She always bought my pictures, invited me in, gave me hot tea & cookies.

When I got a little older, she would come and get me for our tea parties. She taught me to crotchet, cook, clean, iron, sew and many other little lessons that my mother had not taught me (my mom & dad worked full time and neither are domestic). Her husband was also a gentle soul, who taught me carpentry and introduced me to what the true meaning of chivalrous is.

princessbelle

02-02-2012, 08:53 PM

I have a sweet older woman story as well.

There was this woman that lived behind my house and she was just precious. Mom and Dad watched out for her and she had a key to our house. Mom says many times she would come home from work and Effie would be there with a dinner prepared. She was just an angel.

I remember once, i think i was around 4ish, i was playing with my doll in the living room. I believe it was called "baby first-step", anyway, the doll had beautiful long blonde hair and i was brushing it. Effie commented on how pretty the doll's hair was. I remember my face burning and felt it turn red. I told her that mom had cut off some of my hair and glued it to the doll. I do believe it was my first little lie because i will never forget how that moment felt. Effie laughed and laughed which made me get redder and redder.

The scene ended with her hugging me tight and telling me she loved me and my hair.

She truly was a precious lady and i am blessed she was in my life.

mustangjeano

02-02-2012, 08:57 PM

My dad (my hero) taught me many things about how to treat a woman. One of my favorite memories was when I was a kid I noticed that, when walking with my Mom, he always made sure to walk on theoutside nearest the street. I asked him why and he said that was to make sure that a car splashing water from a puddle or jumpimg the curb would hit him and not my Mom. A good lesson in "old school" manners and cherishing women.

Prudence

12-09-2012, 11:06 AM

Standing ovations at my dance recitals... and being rewarded afterward with warm Krispy Kreme donuts and cold milk.

GPS

12-16-2012, 10:52 PM

My dad always treating me more like a son, my grandaddy driving me around in a '68 convertible, growing up between 3 states and a great summer home in Canada. i had the best childhood. i cant even begin to list my experiences. AND i try hard to give my son the BEST of both worlds to boot.

LoyalWolfsBlade

12-21-2012, 04:25 AM

Hmm favorite childhood memory I think the one that always pops into my mind is each and every family reunion I went to when my granny was alive. I can still on my saddest day think of something about her that will make me smile and even shake my head in disbelief but still smile or even laugh. From watching her crochet to enjoying the smell of real corn bread and beans cooking on a Sunday. To even watching this old lady that had 12 children pick up her spit can next to her recliner and spit her chew into it. Gross to think about but that was my granny and she did not care what anyone thought of her as long as her family was taken care of. I am sitting here right now shaking my head at all the memories and honestly missing the one member of my bio-family I am not embarrassed to admit to loving and missing during the holiday season. Nor too embarrassed to admit that was one little woman I feared and inspire to make proud even today.

peachy

12-21-2012, 05:00 AM

my best friend and all the things we did together, sledging, riding on our bogie, mini morobikes at the fair, jumping over the hedge, passing notes along string between our bedroom windows, lying with our feet out of the car window, eating sherbert that crackles and pops, taking turns kissing our shared boyfriend, sitting on the toilet together, fighting, crabbing, swimming - don't know what I would have done without her. From age 2 to 12 she was the love of my life.

Metro

12-21-2012, 06:45 AM

When I was a child our family would add a little levity to Christmas morning by getting a joke gift for each person, or wrapping some tiny thing in a gigantic box and then sit back to watch the puzzled response when it was opened (especially entertaining following pleads to open a giant package -- we fell for this year after year). It was fun.

In the spirit of that tradition here is a comedy bit about various holidays. Enjoy.

xJAxRVeKnTE&sns=em

*Anya*

12-21-2012, 07:45 AM

My favorite childhood memories revolve around my maternal grandmother, Nannie.

I would get to go to my Nannie's apartment every weekend when we lived in NJ and got to spend Saturday nights with her. My brothers never did. I guess they stayed home with my parents. I honestly never thought about them and my spending weekends with Nannie until just now.

She would always let me stay up and watch Perry Mason on Saturday nights. Since at home I watched almost zero TV and had to go to bed at 7:30 every night, staying at her house was such a treat!

She was the best cook ever! She made awesome duck with the crispiest skin! I have tried in my life to replicate it but have never been able to make it like she did!

We would always take the bus to go to the mall to go shopping. She could never afford to buy anything but we always had fun. Everything I did with Nannie was fun! It was like an out-of-prison pass for me each weekend.

She always had parakeets and when one died, she would get another. Each one was named Peetie. As a kid, I just thought all birds lived forever. She would walk around the apartment with the bird on her shoulder. It always seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to do that.

Even though she was Jewish, she always had a tiny Christmas tree on a tabletop for us kids. She somehow, always, knew to get each of us that one present that we really, really, wanted.

She would talk to me for hours (except about the loss of her family from Austria in the Holocaust- she never spoke of it.) and she gave me frequent hugs. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she loved me.

She probably saved my soul.

She died at age 99 and I still miss her so.

Blade

12-31-2012, 06:24 PM

My Pa worked at night and was off on Monday and Tuesday instead of the weekend. Years ago we got Washingtons birthday and Lincoln's birthday off from school. I was always at Gigi and Papa's on the long weekends. Squirrel hunting on Friday afternoons and Saturdays and even Sunday mornings before church as long as I wasn't on Game Management land. But Mondays was the best day. On Mondays I went with Pa and my Uncle either rabbit hunting or bird hunting. I was always amazed at how my Pa and my Uncle could snag a bird as they took flight, two shots 2 sometimes 3 birds falling...nothing like the smell of gun powder after the shots ring out of a double barrel shotgun. Both he and my Uncle have passed on now, but the memories I have of them both, I still hold very close to my heart.