10 Childhood Memories

Inspired by Michelle C's post, here are 10 of my childhood memories.  Some are happy, some are sad, some are just plain odd!  Sit back and enjoy the ride with me.

1. My parents divorced when I was 6, and my mom was the custodial parent.  As a result, my two brothers and I had visitation periods with our dad every other weekend.  During these weekends, we'd do a variety of different activities.  One of our routine outings involved paddle boating on my dad's friend K's pond.  Anyway, we'd stop at the High's grocery in town, pick up some bottled sodas (in the small glass containers) or Ice-E like creations and some Bubble Yum, and head over to K's place for the afternoon.  After shooting the breeze and (impatiently) waiting a while, K would bring out the paddle boats, and he and dad would drag them out to the edge of the pond.  I remember riding in the boat next to dad, constantly afraid that it would tip over because he was SO much bigger than me.  It would bob in the water and tip from side to side, but never actually turned over (thank goodness!).  I remember the feeling of the water sloshing between my toes.
2. When I was 8, I took my first-ever airplane ride with my grandma to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousin M in Minnesota.  My grandma was a world-traveler, and she said afterward that it was the worst flight she'd ever been on, complete with poor service and absolutely horrible turbulence.  At least the visit itself was a winner!  My then-two year old cousin M ran naked around her living room after having a bath and peed on the stereo.  I laughed hysterically for hours afterward.  Fortunately, my Aunt thought it was funny, too.
3. One time when that same Aunt was visiting my grandma's house, she'd put cousin M's lovey blanket in the washing machine.  When she tried to put M down for her nap, said baby demanded 'Bee', her blankie.  Being the helpful 8 year old I was, I gently but firmly told M that Bee had gone bye-bye.  I thought my Aunt would kill me.  M started screaming and I hi-tailed it out of the room as fast as my little legs could carry me.
4. Again, when I was 7 or 8, I remember 'helping' dad set up the community fair exhibits.  The fair was held in the gymnasium of the local high school, and I remember how it smelled of rubber-soled shoes and how my own sneakers eeked and squeaked along the floor.  I remember the mini-tractor pulls that took place, and how dad's friend K sold candy bars to the public.  Or, at least he was supposed to sell them to the public!  My younger brother and I usually bummed enough money off of dad to buy him out early on in the day.
5. I remember how my dad always had an enormous wad of cash in his pocket.  Seriously - 20 $1 bills, followed by a layer of fives, then a layer of tens, and so on, clear up to a layer of $100s.  I suspect that this had something to do with the demise of my parents' marriage, since my mom never had any idea how he got all that money, either.  We could have used the money for food or clothes, but he never shared with mom.
6. Dance!  I was big into dance; tap and ballet, but mainly - almost exclusively, really - tap.  I took lessons from age 4 until I graduated from high school at age 18.  I remember how I'd drive down to school when I was older, and then back upcounty to my dance studio on Wednesday afternoons.  I remember swinging through the McDonalds drive-thru on my way to my lesson, and the sitting in the car wolfing down my food before I headed inside.  I still have a very warm place in my heart for my favorite teacher, Pat.  She gave me my private lesson from the time I was about 9 years old.  We still exchange Christmas cards every year (though I don't recall hearing from her last year); it's hard to believe I've known her for more than 20 years.
7. The county fair was a huge part of my childhood.  My grandpa is a former President and Board Member of the Agricultural Association, so my entire family worked - volunteered - every summer during the grand event.  We worked in the Home Arts department, accepting and judging entries submitted by the general public.  Many of the commercial exhibitors gave out free balloons to children attending the fair.  The building where we worked had tremendously high ceilings, and my brothers and I along with a few of the other children of workers created 'rescue balloons' to retrieve those that had been lost above.  We'd get a hearty-looking balloon, affix a wad of tape (duct tape was best!) to the top, and then tie together ribbon after ribbon until it reached to the ceiling.  Then we'd go around collecting lost balloons from the ceiling.  We'd end up with 30 or 40 balloons each day!  Mom was thrilled to have to cram them all into the car in the evenings.  :)  There are many, many things that I miss about the Fair.
8. Our cat, Whiskers, passed away from Leukemia at age 7.  One of my mom's students gave her our next pet, another cat (mis)named Precious shortly thereafter.  Precious was anything but - she was mean, spastic and over-the-top viscious most of the time.  But she WAS beautiful, with sleek grey fur and dark, defined black stripes that lined her lithe body.  I remember Precious trying to break into my mom's little fishtank - she chewed and chewed on the edge trying to get to the little guppies inside!
9. Before my parents divorced, we lived in a little house beyond the edge of town.  The house was situated on a small, winding lane, and there were a number of neighborhood children - mostly older than me - who populated said houses.  I remember playing kickball on our driveway with some of them - Brian, Ruth, Sean, and others; almost all boys, but what do you care when you're 5?  I was just happy that they let me play!  I remember playing until mom called us in for dinner, and I remember the feel of the sticky, summer night sweat on my neck.  I remember Brian standing out on our driveway with us the night that we moved the remainder of the boxes out of the house post-parental split-up, telling us that if he had the money, he'd buy our house.  He was sweet.  Sometimes I wonder what happened to him.
10. When I was two or three, I lived with my grandparents for a few months while my mom recovered from surgery.  (My dad was essentially a non-entity at that point, so my mom farmed us kids out to different relatives: I went to her parents' home, my older brother went to her sister's farm, and my younger brother went to my dad's home.)  I remember my mom bringing me the Orange Blossom Strawberry Shortcake doll when she came to see me one day - I remember the brightness of the orange box and the crinkle of the plastic, and the delight that I felt over the new toy in my hands.  I remember the joy that I felt whenever I helped my grandma stir her milk - I'd take the spoon, stir, and then 'accidentally' drop the spoon down into the container, so grandma would have to fish it out.  The first time it happened purely by accident; the other times... purely by intention.

Ah, sweet memories.  Thanks for the idea, Michelle.  I feel like I could go on forever!

I'll tag some others to do this as well, even though I don't recall tagging being a part of the game!

How about...

Faith

Connie

Linda R

Lynn R

Renda R

Let's hear some stories!  5, 10... however many you'd like.