Number 2 of 10: Childhood Memories

So, here I am completing another challenge from Creating Keepsakes' List of 10 Pages that should be in your scrapbook. This one is to include stories of your childhood. Of course, there are tons I could include but here are a few that spring to mind.

*I was the oldest of 3 girls. I loved playing outside with my sisters and my friends. I spent countless hours playing hide-n-go-seek and tag, riding bikes, and wandering the neighborhood.

*I once went trick or treating when it wasn't Halloween. I was young (probably 6 or so?) but wanted candy. So I talked my sister into dressing up and going to several houses to say trick or treat. I know at least one person laughed at us, but a couple of people gave us candy, which is what I wanted. So all in all, it was a successful venture. :)

*I had a sweet tooth, even as a child. Often when my sisters and I would get desserts, I would eat mine quickly and then beg one of my sisters to give me part of theirs. I would promised to share mine the next time. They often would share theirs with me, but I don't know if I ever shared with them.

*Once I was vacuuming and my littlest sister was being a pest. She was lying on the floor in my way. I told her if she didn't move, then I would vacuum up her hair. She didn't move and I kept vacuuming, getting closer and closer and suddenly some of her hair DID get tangled in the vacuum. I felt terrible. I don't think I even really meant to do it, and I felt so bad.

*I went to Andalucia Elementary for Kindergarten through 4th grade. Then I went to Barcelona Elementary for 5th and 6th grade because they had a full time gifted program there. Then I went back to Andalucia for 7th and 8th grade, because it was a K-8 school. My teacher in 5th and 6th grade was Mrs. Garant. She was an amazing teacher, and we did many very fun and exciting projects that I still remember. I would like to be more like her. My favorite project was a unit on ancient civilizations and archaeology. We studied how archaeologists have learned about ancient Egypt and ancient Babylon and so on. Then she divided the class into 2 groups and we had to invent our own society/culture complete with its own language, dress, food, religion, holidays and so on. We created artifacts as clues to our culture. Then we were able to dig deep holes in the playground of our school and bury our artifacts in layers. We let our artifacts "age" all weekend (to represent the thousands of years they would be buried before being found). Then we archaeologists carefully unburied the other group's artifacts and pieced together as much as we could about their society. It was amazing.

*Junior high was by far the worst time of my entire life. My parents divorced. I went to a K-8 school where there were only about 100 kids in 7th grade and 100 kids in 8th grade. I had known most of them my entire life and almost all of them drank and slept around. There was terrible peer pressure. It was so hard to not do the things that everyone else seemed to be doing.

*I had shoulder-length blond hair when I was little. Most of my clothes were made by my mom or my Grandma Faye (mom's mom). My grandma often made dresses for my sisters and I, especially Rebecca (who is 2 years younger than me) and I. She would buy fabric with the same pattern but one would be red and one would be blue and then make dresses that were the same style. She always asked what color we wanted, and since I knew Rebecca liked red better, I would almost always say blue, even though I hated blue. Now blue is probably my favorite color. My other grandma (dad's mom) started getting our hair cut into short, feathery hair styles when we were about 8 or 9. We hated it. I usually didn't complain, since it didn't do any good. But Rebecca hated it and would fight with my grandma about it.

*My Grandma Marj (dad's mom) lived about 2 miles from us, and she was our babysitter while my parents worked. I can only remember about 3 times having a babysitter besides my grandma. (And it was always another adult or parent from our church. I don't think I ever had a teenager babysit me.)

*My Grandpa Reed (dad's dad) would always tell great jokes and stories. He also sang to us. "Oh, I've got six pence. Jolly, jolly sixpence. Oh, I've got six pence to last me all my life. I've got tuppence to spend, and tuppence to lend and tuppence to send home to my wife, poor wife....." (and on it went... with each verse him having two pence or tuppence less) He would chase us in the swimming pool and pretend to be the drain monster. He would have us stand on his feet and dance around. I've seen my mom do some of these same things with my kids and it always brings a smile to my face to see the traditions carried on.

*I grew up living in a trailer park. We didn't have a lot of money, but we had enough of what we needed. And Christmas was a huge deal. My parents bought us piles of gifts (possibly with help from my grandparents or else they just saved all year to make Christmas special). We weren't really spoiled, but I never felt poor either. And really, our neighbors weren't any better off than us, so I guess I just didn't realize that some people had big homes and fancy cars. Those things weren't important. (Hard to remember that now sometimes as an adult!) When I was in fifth grade we moved to an apartment and it felt so much bigger even though it only had two rooms for the five of us.

*The first time I got my own room was in junior high. My dad moved to Texas prior to the divorce (although we didn't know my parents were getting divorced at the time) and my mom, sisters and I moved in with my grandparents (my dad's parents). I got my "own" room which was really my grandpa's office. So he was in there ocassionally, but I no longer had to share with my sisters. When my mom remarried, we moved into a house.

*I lived through the 80's and loved The Bangles, Whitney Houston, New Kids on the Block, MC Hammer (I had MC Hammer pants...do you remember those awful things?), and others. I had big bangs and brightly colored shirts with crazy patterns.

*My childhood was happy. In high school, my nickname was "Smiley" because everyone said I smiled all the time, even if I was sad. I had a great family and many friends and despite having some bad things happen, I really was a happy, blessed kid.

I would love to post pictures but most or all of my childhood photos are still at my mom's house... maybe some day I will get some posted.