Random Memories

[Lazy Daze]

I remember the way my Dad always smelled of cigarettes and cologne. His smile and the way this gorgeous blue eyes danced when he did. The way his arms felt when he used to hug me tight. His deep raspy quiet voice. How we always had Sunday night game night, because my mom worked third shift, so she would be napping, and him and I could have wrestling matches, wiffle ball games, bike races, etc. I remember the way he laughed, I remember dancing with my feet on top of his, I remember him teaching me how to play softball and that he was at Every game I ever played....I remember the day I came out to him (I was 16, and he was the only one I told until I was almost 30). And lastly, I remember and I can still hear him say "I love you Judge" (my nickname he gave me as a kid)....I miss him so much

[Beloved]

I was reminded of this memory because the person I shared it with posted on Facebook that she was going to a lake...

It was a beautiful summer day. I was about 22/23 and I was with my first girlfriend who was femme (didn't know anything about butches yet), and we were in Nova Scotia. We hiked through the woods to a pretty lake. We got in a paddle boat and paddled out to the middle of the lake and got super high. And laughed and talked and then paddled back...which was hard because of our state and there was some wind and a bit of a current going in the wrong direction. It's a happy memory.

**I don't partake in that mind altering activity anymore.

[Blade]

I remember arguing with my Mom and my Nannie on Sunday mornings....yup you guessed it....about having to wear a dress to church....yes I won out eventually but not for MANY years. At first I could wear pants at night but they had to be dress pants of course. Then finally when I was about 17 or 18 I could wear dress pants Sunday morning.

[Blade]

I also remember on Sunday's we always went to my Gigi's for Sunday dinner after church. Of course we took "play clothes" to change into. As we would leave the church parking lot I'd already have slipped into my jeans or shorts and taken off that dress and those God forsaken patent leather shoes, and into my PF Fliers or my boots, and be looking for my hat. All the while Mom saying, can you not wait til we get to Gigi's?

[nycfem]

I remember when I was little, before I could spell, being in the backseat of the car with other little children, my mom driving, and her friend getting in the passenger seat. My mom asked her why she was covered in bruises and she spelled out, "D-O-U-G" (her husband). My mom nodded. I was so curious what word that spelled but knew that I'd get in trouble if I asked so I just kept spelling it in my mind over and over for hours in order to remember so I could ask someone later what this secret and powerful word was. Later at home, when my mom wasn't around, I asked my dad casually, "What word does D-O-U-G spell?" He seemed to think for a moment, caught off guard, and then said, "It isn't a word." He was probably being genuine in his answer (or not). I remember feeling so disappointed. Had I not remembered the letters in the right order? How could that be? The letters by that point were stuck on repeat in my brain. It wasn't until I could spell that I finally put it together. Doug was the reason why my mom's friend always had bruises. By then it wasn't satisfying to know, just sad.

[Kenna]

The annual Love Feast at my Gramma's Dunkard Brethren church... the smell of homemade food and the Love Feast bread (a very special recipe handed down generations), the quiet ceremony and traditions, the respect of all the elders, family and fellowship, watching each member kneel down to wash the feet of the brother or sister church member, how that act was done so gently and tenderly, how they drank grape juice (no alcohol permitted) and broke the special bread after blessings, and how the air and comfort of the space seemed to fill with unspoken powerful feeling of belonging and calmness. ... how I miss those times with my Gramma.

[Okiebug61]

Riding my bike all over Norman without a worry. Hanging out and the park with my friends, jumping from the swings as far as we could. Racing to the Taste Freeze for a fresh squeezed cherry limeade with extra cherry. Trading marbles we bought from TG&Y and wishing I could go back and do this all over again.

[girl_dee]

Syr and i chuckled while fishing today remembering the time we were all out fishing on the jetty only i was sent to get more Powerbait and two rainbow trout were put in my tackle box when i wasn't looking.

i returned, unsuspecting.

Then was told to get something out of my tackle box.

i opened it and two trout came flying out at me.

i believe i wet myself. The butches thought that was hysterical.

Oh hell it was funny!

[Katniss]

I remember when I was real little visiting my grandmother's farm in rural Alabama. She was making a cake and had run out of sugar so she sent me down to the barn, up the ladder and into the loft to get more sugar. You would not believe me if I told you how many bags of sugar were hidden under that hay. It wasn't until years later I figured out the old woman was running shine. (and I thought she told me to keep it a secret because she had a sweet tooth).

[Mar]

Snowmobiling across 100 acres of my great uncles land in Canandaigua and stopping atop the mountain that over looked Canandaigua Lake. It was dark out, and the lights reflecting over the water, rippling with it's subtle movements. It felt so high up above looking down, and though I was surrounded by snow I didn't feel cold at all. The night was quiet, there was nobody for miles all around me. A peace came over me and my mind drifted. All I could think about is how breathtaking a sight it was, and how amazing it would be to some day bring that special someone up there to share it with, at least one time. My uncle still owns that land, but I haven't been up there in a couple years. I never did get to bring that special girl of my dreams up there, maybe there's still time.

[girl_dee]

i remember once while in my boat, back in the swamp of Louisiana (before Katrina, a defining moment) and i was so still that a momma otter came out and her babies were playing on the thick layer water hyacinths .... it was a moment that has stuck with me always.i miss those times sometimes.

[Soft*Silver]

I remember chasing the sun across pastures, on horseback, as it rolled over the great land of home...

I remember our shetland Sheepdog, Tiny Tim, playing for hours with me as a young girl...he was so happy and frisky.

I remember burying my baby dolls. In my mother's garden bed.

I remember hating school. I loved the studies. I hated the cruelty of the other children.

I remember having my first drink. I drank it because I was so unhappy. It became a theme for my drinking.

I remember the day my brother committed suicide. In fact, everything after that became defined by it.

I remember falling in love for the first time. And I remember falling in love each and every time. I wonder if love really does feel like the soft velvet of a rose petal...thats how it feels to me inside...

I remember when my horse snapped her femur in half and had to be put down. I still get nauseous thinking of it..

I remember looking in doorways and smiling

I remember being told the facts of life and thinking sperm jumped over the bellybuttons to get into the woman. My sister didnt tell the facts very well..,

I remember holding my baby for the first time, after giving birth to her...I never saw anything so close to god before..

I remember the physically abusive relationship I was in for 7 years. I remember it was safer for me to be in it with him than it was for me to come out....

I remember coming out...

I remember seeing my mother dead...

I remember watching my father die...

I remember seeing my front yard alit with thousands of dragonflies....

I remember dating a priest....

I remember being destitute

I remember every insult against me. We all do. I can bet that those who delivered it do not...

I remember christmases at my house when my daughter was young. I filled the house with traditions and family and it was the most joyful time of the year...

I remember being a bulimic...

I remember the taste of a good sweet apple in my mouth...god I love fall!

I remember playing bingo with my parents as a young girl, in a bingo hall that was three stories high...

I remember disco dancing...

I remember sanitary napkins and tampons. Thank GOD for menopause!

I remember learning about a new disease called ARC, later AIDS

I remember paying $3000 for my first computer.

I remember my first kiss...

and my last...

[Mrs Arcstriker]

I remember growing up in Poughkeepsie, NY...I was younger than the 5th grade but older than the 3rd grade spent in a horrible place called Austinburgh, Ohio...We had just gotten back from 9 months of exile in Ohio with my father moving us to OH when the Fargo Corporation in NY laid him off...

Our first summer back at our childhood home that we seized from the squatters that lived there...

My mom had planted a garden including the usual vegetables along with some not so usual veggies...

In her eggplant patch she got up early one morning and tucked some white chicken eggs under the fruits of her labor...and told me that was where eggs came from. (I believed this until we moved back to Connecticut where I was born!)

In the backyard under the apple trees (Mac's) there was a ring of mushrooms that formed a circle the size of half a kick-ball field...and she said that was a Fairy Ring...She went on to tell me that the fairies would come out to meet at night and sit atop the mushroom caps as they called their meeting to order.

To this day I thank my mother for her ripe imagination, and I laugh with her as she laughs at my gullible soul. I don't even want to begin to tell you about the day we moved back to rural CT when I was only 12, or as I call that moment, "The day I learned where milk came from..."

[Miss Scarlett]

i remember...

my first bicycle

my first pair of pantyhose

my Little Hostess Buffet

Jingle jumps

when the Duncan yo-yo people came to our school every spring

stealing Dad's handkerchiefs to make "parachutes" for Barbie

Dad getting out the ladder to get Barbie off the roof

Weekly Readers

Scholastic Book Club orders

Watching color tv for the first time...

[cinnamongrrl]

I'm loving this thread and would love for it to wake back up.... I'm too tired to think coherently and contribute properly lol

[little_ms_sunshyne]

I remember being 5 and only wanting to wear things with ruffles. Ruffled skirt, underwear, and socks. When we would go out to dinner, I would stand up in the middle of the restaurant and start singing whatever song my dad had just taught me. It would vary from the Beatles "Hey Jude", a Simon and Garfunkel song, Juan Luis Guerra, 50's doo wop..the list was endless. Imagine everyone's surprise when I belted out "Welcome to the Jungle" lol Yep, my mom did not know I was listening the one day she played it.

I still have such a love and appreciation for all music

[Duchess]

I remember looking forward to the tent revivals that our church would host. They always felt so good.

Duchess

[femmeInterrupted]

The rolling hills of the Qu'Appelle Valley. The drive down, to Buffalo Pound Lake and the cabin--
I remember summers spent with my grandparents, my cousins, my aunts and uncles!
I remember summers spent running free, floating and cloud watching, following deer tracks up to the prairie floor.
I remember feeling love, and laughter.
I remember saying goodbye with my first cousins when our Grandma died, and we all flew back to Moose Jaw for the funeral.
I, the eldest, bought everyone rubber rain boots, and we drove back to the lake from town, and trekked the hills of our childhood for the last time, to say goodbye the way we needed too.


What a great thread!

[willow]

I remember climbing to the top of an eight foot wire mesh fence to rescue my cat. The cat was not stuck of course, but I soon was. 2½yrs old.

I remember falling off the arm of the sofa and breaking a guitar by landing on it. I've no idea who owned the guitar. No one in my family can play a musical instrument.

I remember my first day of school. The teacher taught us how to raise our hands to answer questions by asking which breakfast cereal we liked.

I remember being a fairy in the gala day parade. A float full of flower fairies. We all wore white sticky out dresses, frill edged net wings, white gloves and flowers in our hair. My mother made my dress and I loved it! It poured with rain all day and my dress was stained all the colours of the rainbow by the dye dripping from the thousands of soaked paper flowers.

I remember falling off my bicycle and grazing my arm. I had to walk home because the front wheel was twisted. It was the height of summer and flies kept landing on the graze. I was convinced I'd be eaten alive from the inside by maggots.

I remember picking wild flowers on the way to the cemetery to place on the graves of various family members.

I remember trying to light the coal fire one freezing winters morning. We were out of kindling so I set fire to an old shoe.

I remember my first day as a student nurse working on an actual hospital ward. My uniform only just fitted (pin stripped dress, starched apron and hat) and the ward sister mentioned something about hoping I wasn't a big eater since the canteen food was so good (big fat lie) I was so embarrassed that my uniform was soon hanging off me and I had to be fitted for a smaller size. I have been dieting pretty much continuously ever since.

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by Duchess

I remember looking forward to the tent revivals that our church would host. They always felt so good.

Duchess

What do you remember about them? I have never been to one, have no idea what it's like.