It’s Hard for Him to Remember October 29, 2008
Posted by Deb in Uncategorized.Tags: Childhood, family, Memories, Petting Zoo
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He wishes he could remember more about his childhood, but no matter how hard he tries, memories before his teenage years practically eluded his mind.
He can remember a few though and the first one that comes to mind is just a small snippet.
He was in kindergarden and he remembers having to climb up some stairs. At the top of those stairs was a room filled with huge blocks that looked like the blocks on some of the homes in his neighborhood. Some buddies and he began building with these blocks and he was surprised at how light they were when they looked so heavy! What to build, what to build. They began piling block upon block and before long a fort was built. How much fun they had playing in that fort!!
His first real memory was one of taking a trip. One morning Momma woke him up an told him to get dressed. He couldn’t understand why she was waking him up so early, but he loved Momma and did what she asked.
After getting dressed he went through the house and smelled something yummy..breakfast!! Sitting down and eating quickly he wondered what was going on.
After breakfast Momma told him to gather up his things and get in the car. He could feel the excitment in the air and with each mile got more and more anxious.
Daddy was driving and Momma was sitting beside him. They were talking and laughing and he just couldn’t stand it any longer..
“Momma, where are we going?”
“You’ll see..”
Sitting back in the seat he wasn’t happy about the answer he received.
After a while Daddy asked him if he could read the sign that was in front of them.
He tried really hard, but right now all he could read was little words and this was a big word.
“No. What does it say?”
“Welcome to Michigan!”
Sitting back again he thought Michigan? We live in Indiana. He’d looked at the map of the United States in his classroom and he knew that they were in a different state. This wasn’t making any sense….
After a while, Daddy started slowing down and they pulled into this place called Deer Forest.
He asked Momma what Deer Forest was and she replied again, “You’ll see.” If nothing else, he decided that he didn’t like that answer to a question. Funny thing is, years later he would do that to his own children……
After parking, they got out of the car and paid for their tickets. Momma also paid for a big, colorful key. What in the world could a key that big be used for??
They walked through a gate and he walked into a fairytale!!! He looked around with big, wide eyes and couldn’t believe what he was seeing!! He saw Humpty Dumpty and Jack and the Beanstalk. He saw Old Mother Hubbard and The Old Woman in the Shoe. Scene after scene and they all looked like they jumped out of his rhyme books!! Daddy took the key and showed him how to put it into a box in front of each scene. When you turned the key, someone inside the box would start telling the rhyme!! It was the coolest thing he’d ever seen in his young life!
After the nursery rhymes there were a few rides you could ride on. Rides like he rode on at the fair, only smaller.
He was having so much fun that he didn’t notice his tummy rumbling, but when Momma suggested they sit down and eat the picnic lunch they had brought, he didn’t object! He can’t remember what they ate, but Momma was a good cook and she’d always taken such good care of him…he knew it was good whatever it was.
After eating they began walking again. They came up on a petting zoo. He wasn’t sure what that was, but after just a moment he knew. They actually let you pet the animals!! There were goats and rabbits and llamas and deer…hey!!…maybe that was why this place was called Deer Forest. There were alot of trees and here were the deer…made sense to him.
Daddy would take a quarter every now and then and put it in a machine that looked like a gumball machine at the dime store. When he would turn the knob, corn would come out instead of bubblegum. He would give it to his son and then the little boy would hold out his hand so the deer would eat out of it!! That was scary and exciting at the same time!! He was amazed that the deer would even come so close to him, much less eat out of his hand!
All too soon the day came to an end and it was time to go home. As they piled back in the car, he laid down in the back seat. It had been a wonderful day and he would remember this forever.
And he did…..
Her First Christmas Memory October 21, 2008
Posted by Deb in Uncategorized.Tags: Christmas, Santa Claus
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She doesn’t remember how old she was, she just remembers it was Christmas Eve and she was sleeping on the couch.
Her uncle was visiting and he was sleeping in her bed. She didn’t mind because if she slept on the couch, Mommy would leave the lights on on the Christmas tree and it was so beautiful!
The tree was so big! It was almost as big as Daddy, and he was a big man..
The tree was silver and when they were busy putting it together it would scratch her skin. Oh, it didn’t hurt..just felt a little funny.
She doesn’t remember shopping for it, but she does remember how big the box looked sitting in the livingroom floor. Mommy opened the box and took out all the pieces. That tree sure looked funny in the box, but Mommy promised that once they got it put together it would be beautiful….and she was right.
Once it was put together, Mommy began to put the lights on. They were beautiful!! Blue and red, green and orange and the best part was…they blinked!! She wondered how many other little girls had trees that blinked.
Then Mommy brought out this stuff that looked like shiny, red rope. They worked to get it wrapped around the tree, standing back every now and then, tilting their head one way then the next to see if it was even. She really didn’t understand what even meant, but she did understand pretty..and this tree was pretty.
Next, she and Mommy sat on the floor and put hooks on the most pretty ornaments she’d ever seen in her little life!! There were shiny balls and icicles. There were little Santa Clauses and elves! Mommy even had a couple of angels. After getting all of the hooks on, they began to hang them on the tree. She was so excited!! Excited to the point that Mommy had to keep reminding her to be careful!! Oh..she surely didn’t want to break even one of these beautiful trinkets.
For the next few days at school, they would make an ornament to take home and hang on their tree. She wondered if Mommy would let her do that. After all, the tree was so pretty and her handmade ornaments…well..weren’t.
That first day she carried home a piece of white paper cut in the shape of a ball. She’d spent so much time making sure each piece of colored macaroni…and by the way, how did that macaroni get all of those different colors??….was in just the right spot. Then she took paste and pasted each piece carefully to the “ball”. Oh, darn!! No matter how many ways she tilted her head, it just didn’t look right, but, it was time to go home and so, with ornament in hand, she began her trip home.
By this time, she was used to the walk and now even Scott waited on her and they walked hand in hand until he had to turn off on his street. He was a little shorter than her, but that was okay..it made it easier to look at that beautiful white hair…..
Once inside her apartment, she carefully laid the ornament on the table. Turning on Captain Kangaroo and sitting on the couch, her eyes would wander from the tree to the ornament. There was no way Mommy would hang that awful thing on their beautiful tree. She even thought about throwing it away before Mommy got home from work, but just maybe there would be a chance…..
She heard the now familiar sound of the locks clicking open and turning, saw a snow covered Mommy walking in the door. As usual, Mommy was tired, but she always had a hug ready and wanted to hear about her little girl’s day.
Sheepishly the little girl showed Mommy the ornament, trying as best she could to hold back the tears. It was truly an awful looking thing….but to her surprise and absolute astonishment, Mommy went and got one of those hooks and put it on her construction paper and macaroni ball and hung it right in front on the tree!!! Not only did Mommy think it was beautiful but she even gave it a place of honor!! She had the best Mommy in the world!!
So laying on the couch on Christmas Eve night, her eyes wandered from the macaroni ball to the Santa Clauses and the angels. The lights were blinking and she knew she needed to be getting to sleep so Santa could come but that tree was just soooo beautiful……
She heard a noise. Like someone was moving the presents under the tree. Peeking through her sleepy eyelids she saw him!!! You know…HIM….Santa Claus!!!! He was bent over putting things under the tree!! Oh no!! What would happen if HE knew she saw him? Should she sit up? No… Should she cough? No…Should she even breathe??? She was so excited…she was actually looking at the real Santa Claus! No one was ever going to believe this…not even Scott!
She decided she would just hold her breath as long as she could and peek out of her eyelashes so that maybe Santa wouldn’t realize that she was awake.
“Oh no!! He’s turning around..he’s looking at me!! Don’t move. Don’t even breath…”
The next thing she knew it was morning. When did she fall back asleep and when did Santa leave? Did she really even see Santa?? No matter. Sitting up she saw all of those presents and knew he’d been there and it was time to wake up Mommy and Daddy. Running through the apartment and jumping on the bed she tried to explain to them it was time to get up. Wake up uncle and let’s get busy opening those presents!! And by the way she saw Santa….Mommy just smiled and told her that she couldn’t have saw Santa, he don’t let people see him. But she knew she saw him…didn’t she??
To this very day when she shares that memory with Mama, Mama just smiles……
