10 Cherished Memories

Informally tagged by Michelle...here are 10 cherished memories of mine:

1.  Dancing with my mother.  My mother loved dancing, she loved music - the Beatles, Elvis, Tommy & the Shondells, the Platters, ok you name it.  I think it was because of her and having music on all the time that I can sing along with just about anything today - (several of my friends have asked, "Do you know EVERY song??"... it just seems like it.)  But my mother and I used to dance along to several of the big hits of the 60s especially - I have a great home movie where I'm dancing with her and copying her movements (I was about 4 or 5).  I was very good at the mashed potato.

2.  Fishing with my Grandpa.  My Grandpa was the first one to take me fishing, and he gave me his love for it.  One particular time he was rather stubborn about going even though it had rained and rained and my Grandmother warned we'd get stuck.  We went out, and when we got stuck, Grandpa tried to call anyone but her.

3.  In 1987, My Mother, My Grandmother and I went on a road trip.  My Mom & Grandma wanted to go see New York City.  They had never been there and my Grandmother had the idea that she wanted to eat breakfast one morning on Broadway.  (this is just one of her odd ideas).  The travel guide we had for New York said "...if you're going to drive in New York City, don't."  But we thought if we timed it right (early Sunday morning) we wouldn't have any problems.  So we got in my mother's high-top camping van, and we drove to New York from St. Louis.  We drove into New York City early Sunday morning as planned, and had a quick breakfast at a dive on Broadway Avenue.  We got back in the van and drove down some big street that was originally 8 lanes that went down to 4.  While my mom was driving and trying to figure out what lane she should be in, she saw behind her a sea of yellow - the cabs!!!  She stopped the van and the cabs rushed on both sides of us for about 5 minutes, and with a "OH MY GOD!!!" we got the heck out of there.  On this trip we also went through Atlantic City, Washington DC, the bridge-tunnel at Chesapeake.  It was an awesome trip.

4.  I was Cookie-Queen in 6th Grade.  I sold the most Girl-Scout Cookies of my entire troop, and my mother volunteered to be the cookie mother.  I was happier than I had ever been as a girl scout.

5.  My Wedding Day.  Okay, nothing went quite right, my grandmother lost the flowers that she was supposed to be handing out to relatives, my cake was almost delivered to the wrong location, the limo I hired had to cancel the week before, the caterer canceled two days before, my groom was ill with the flu, I had gotten drunk and very sick the night before the wedding, my mother got her picture taken in her houseshoes because her shoes hurt her feet, but it was still one of the happiest times in my life.

6.  When I was accepted to college.  I had been away for a weekend and had come back on a bus and was waiting for my step-father to pick me up.  When I called to check that he was on his way, his best friend said these words on the phone:  "Mary, let me be the first to congratulate you..." and I dropped the phone and started screaming.  Mel (my step-father) arrived about that time, and I dropped my cases, screamed and hugged him and he said, "That b******, Fred!  I wanted to tell you."    Some time later, he told my mother that if I graduated, he wanted me to have a dozen roses after I walked across to get my diploma.  He told her to make sure this was done, even if he couldn't be there (he was a heart patient.  He died 2 years before I graduated.)

7.  When I graduated from college.  I walked across the platform and my mother handed me the dozen roses from Mel. 

8.  When I went into labor with my first-born son.  My mom had come to visit because it was getting close to the time and actually the Doctor had suggested he would have to induce me if I didn't have the baby by the next Monday.  All day Saturday we worked on the nursery furniture and painted and organized.  I had said I really didn't want to have a baby on the Leap Year anyway, then birthdays would get all messed up.  At 12:15 am, March 1, my pains started at 15 minutes apart.  You could set a clock...  I got up and was huffing & puffing all over the house (I couldn't sit down), and went in to wake my mother.  I said, "Mother, it's time."  She said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS???"  My husband had the idea that the first-born took hours and hours, so he calmly did laundry, took a bath, while I was walking around the house huffing & puffing.  My mother was going crazy.  She finally convinced him to call the hospital and they said to come right away.  He drove 80mph all the way there.  Brandon was born at 3:15pm.  (no, I'm not going to give you any more details.)

9.  The birth of my second son, two years later.  My mother and grandmother had always teased me of the possibility of having a red-headed child.  (They were both red-headed, I am more brunette).  But as my mother and my husband's mother were both true redheads, it certainly was possible...and when Justin was born with a crop of red hair, they enjoyed telling me they told me so. 

10.  My husband's face, when he received his Christmas present, 2005.  I had planned for a friend to help me pick it up (because this item was too big for under the tree) on Christmas Eve.  My boys went with this friend to get it.  Then I parked in a big parking lot and put the hood up on the car, and called my husband and said I was broke down.  My husband (who had been doing his Christmas shopping - he always waits until Christmas Eve) arrived and grabbed the hood and said, "I don't have time for this, I'll drop you at home." When the boys burst out of the friend's truck with their sign "Merry Christmas, Dad!" and starting screaming at him.  He turned around and saw his present:  his Fish & Ski Boat.  

This was a wonderful exercise...I liked thinking about some of the memories that I most cherish.

mmt/2007