Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Thursday Thirteen


Thirteen Memories from My Childhood


1. In 6th grade I paid $2 for a penpal. I got a little piece of paper that said my penpal's name was Emma Heath. I never wrote to her. I started to about a million times, even years later, and never sent her anything. I hope she's not still waiting.

2. Watching cartoons on Saturday morning. You know, when there were GOOD cartoons on Saturday mornings. One of my personal favorites was a show called Kissyfur. No one remembers it but me, but it really exists. I have proof.

3. Fraggle Rock and the Muppet Show were a way of life. Jim Henson is king, everybody recognize!

4. When I was 2ish I used to play on the slip and slide (aka plastic sheet of death) with my neighbor. Those things still exist, how is that? They are one of the greatest evils I've ever experience. You always ended up laying it on a sharp rock, and that rock always injured at least one person. Or you slipped wrong, then subsequently slid wrong...

5. Also when I was 2ish, we lived in a touristy town on a lake. My mom took me to the beach every day (yes, it had a real sand beach, how fun!) and we always stopped at Casey's (it's a chain of convenience stores, do they exist everywhere or are they regional?) and got a slushie. Yum.

6. One of the best memories was, "making memories" with my maternal grandmother. That's what she'd say when we were doing anything together, watering plants, cooking, whatever. She'd say we were making memories. I have lots of great memories to keep with me always. She passed away in 2001, three days after her 60th birthday. She had lung cancer.

7. My paternal grandmother and I always went on a summer trip together when I was younger. One year, I think I was in 8th or 9th grade, we went to this state park. It was in a teeny tiny town with one hotel and one restaurant. It was a nightmare. At the end of that trip, we went to see my dad and stepmom. We ended up getting into town a day early, and we literally hid from them at the hotel. Parked in back and waited til Dad was at work to venture out and do things, LOL. We aren't big fans of my stepmother, and spending an extra day with her was out of the question!

8. I have a friend named Amanda that I met on the first day of third grade. It was my first day at a new school. I had one of those little feather clips stuck on my backpack, the kind you can win at the fair. The bus pulled up to school and I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turn around and she says, "You know, people smoke marijuana out of those things." I don't think I even knew what marijuana was at that time. We're still friends, and she's still wacky.

9. I remember when my brother was born like it was yesterday. My mom came in and woke me up to get ready to go to the hospital. I'd been planning this for weeks, and was completely ready and waiting for them before my mom had even put on her clothes. K was born 2 hours later. My mom does fast work, lol. The day after K was born was the only day I missed of the 5th grade. I still blame him for not getting the perfect attendance award that year. He's also the reason I don't care much for Chinese food. When my mom was pregnant we ate it about 4 nights a week. I wish I were kidding.

10. In 4th grade I won a poster contest for the Just Say No campaign. I was absent the day the rest of the kids participated, and since our art teacher had made it a requirement for her class, I had to make one too. It took me all of 10 minutes to make. It had penguins on it wearing little hats and scarves and it said, "Be cool, don't be a fool, say no to drugs!" I won a $50 savings bond and my poster was made into a full sized billboard up on the highway.

11. My paternal grandparents used to have a cat named Christy. She was my best friend. She was two months older than me, we'd been together our whole lives. When I was 7 or 8 she was bitten by a snake and lost her eye. It was just an empty pink socket on her otherwise perfect face. At first it was all swollen and disgusting and I was scared to look at her. Eventually I got over it, and she forgave me. Several years after that my grandparents called me and told me she'd run away, but in reality my grandma backed over her in the driveway. They only just told me that THIS YEAR!

12. In first grade my class was supposed to dress up like dolls for the Christmas program at school. My hair was done in baby doll ringlets, my cheeks had big circles of red makeup on them, it was the best. My dress was so beautiful, I can still picture it. Pale blue satin with a lace overlay and a fake blue gemstone thing sewn in the middle of the waistline. I loved that dress, and was so mad b/c some dumb kid got their lipstick cheek paint on it.

13. In elementary school we used to play with this huge parachute in gym class. We'd fluff it open and run under, kick around and make "popcorn" and waves and stuff. I wonder if kids still do that in school? It was so much fun.





Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Lindsay
2. Raggedy
3. Southern Girl
4. Knitting Maniac
5. MysteriousLady
6. MomOfMany
7. The Shrone
8. Nancy
9. Candy Minx
10. Jersey Girl
11. Caylynn
12. Lisa
13. tee-t
14. Paxil Princess
15. Tinker
(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)



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