Good Times

I've been thinking a lot lately about little memories I have from my childhood. Just random things that have nothing to do with anything, but that make me smile when I remember them. I thought I would share some of them here.

There was the time that I typed a paper on my brother's computer. It was the first time I'd ever used a computer, and I hit "return" at the end of every line, like you would with a typewriter (yes, I'm that old). Brian had to teach me that the computer wraps the words itself. Then he fixed my paper for me. I wonder how long it took him to go and backspace all of those "returns" out of there. Hey - thanks, Brian!

Once, when I was a teenager, we performed a tricky Chinese Fire Drill in Rose Park. (For those of you who don't know what that is, it involves getting out of a car, running around it, and getting back in before a red light turns green. The more people involved, the better. In a two-door car with five people, it can definitely be tricky.) During this particular drill, one of my brothers nearly lost his shoe as he got back in. Ever wonder how that one shoe got in the middle of the road?

When I was growing up, there was a spot in our side yard where our parents allowed us to dig and play in the mud all we wanted. There was a slight incline, and we would make rivers and roads and bridges and tunnels in the mud, and then we'd put the hose at the top of the hill and turn it on, so that the rivers would fill. We always loved it when one of the dams broke, because we could get away with "swearing." (Dam it! Dam it!)

I remember spending hours on our swingset out back, pumping as high as I could and singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite" at the top of my lungs. Bet the neighbors loved that one. That swingset was also the site of some major competitions (who could jump off and get the farthest without taking a trip to the hospital, for instance). The set had a slide on it, and I remember one time we put a kiddie pool at the bottom and a hose at the top to make our own waterslide. If I remember right, it didn't work out so well. (I know - shocker!)

I have memories of getting up out of bed for one reason or another and finding my parents sitting on the front porch, enjoying the cool evening air and chatting together. Depending on my reason for getting up, they would either tell me to get back to bed, or they would let me sit on one of their laps for a while. It was so peaceful.

...makes me want to be a kid again...