Coffee Chat September 08 Prompt – #1

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What do you remember most about being a kid?

Going to the county fair and spending HOURS riding rides and looking at the exhibits. Always having something to do in the summer – mom scheduled days we would go swimming, to the movies, do crafts, hanging out with my cousins, going to the zoo. I painted a lot of paint-by-numbers. I read constantly. I loved to read Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries. Playing with Barbie dolls. I used to create soap opera worlds with all of my dolls; and this was before I even knew what soap operas were.

I entered a lot of my own crafts into the county fair. I won quite a few ribbons but that wasn’t the reason I participated in the fair. I worked on crafts and entered them into the fair mainly to please my mom. My mother’s main hobby / interest was (is) crafts and participating in crafts and entering the fair was something I had in common with my mom. Though I would be lying if I told you I always enjoyed working on crafts – it wasn’t my main passion – I entered mainly to please my mother.

I rode my bike a lot growing up. I felt so free and in control when I rode. It cleared my head and relaxed me. I remember having a huge crush on a guy that lived up the street from me. I desperately tried getting his attention (even befriending his little sister, who was younger than me and very annoying) and trying to appear sexy as I rode my bike by his house.

I remember living in a mobile home for the first seven years of my life. I even remember the layout of the mobile home and this one particular patchwork rocking chair I used to rock in all the time. I even taught my sister to read in that chair. I remember standing on our sofa in the mobile home and intently studying my mouth in an attempt to teach myself not to lisp. I also remember spending quite a number of hours in front of that same mirror and jiggling teeth loose. I always sort of liked having loose teeth because I liked the way it made my mouth go numb after loosening them.

I remember learning to ride a bike down our street when we lived in the mobile home. I remember my sister and I riding our bikes up and down the street, me shaky and yet confident, my sister still riding with training wheels.

I remember picking up walnuts from our backyard every season. Mom would then drive us out to the walnut husking place and we would get money in exchange for the slimy, wet bags full of walnuts we picked. Though I wasn’t crazy about staining my hands or the smell, I remember feeling very proud of myself whenever I received any money from the task. That was my first taste of earning money and I LIKED it.

I remember going camping in a tent quite a few times and hating it. Mainly because of the bugs and the fact that I had to use the bathroom over a log. I also remember going camping in grandpa and grandma’s trailer, or maybe we hadn’t gone camping in it but we were riding home in it and I had to go to the bathroom so bad I was in pain. I’ve always had this bathroom fetish (fear?) and any time we went anywhere, I refused to use it. I remember these public restrooms, out in the boonies, that were nothing but holes in the ground. They freaked me out as I always envisioned myself falling through the hole and I REFUSED to use them. (In fact, I still have problems using bathrooms whenever we travel. Bet you wanted to know that, eh? lol)

I remember washing the front of our house in the summers. I remember laying / swinging on the porch swing for hours just daydreaming. I remember kissing the cute boy who lived right next door to us one summer. I was a few years older than him and though that bothered me, I felt very feminine and sexy hanging out with him. I remember having the BEST birthday cakes. Mom took cake-decorating classes and always made the neatest cakes for all of us kids growing up. I remember one in particular, a Barbie doll cake. You know the kind – a Barbie doll is inserted into a mound of cake that is later decorated to look like her skirt. I remember having birthday parties at our house and all the family would come over and give me gifts.

I remember our station wagon and the time we were in a wreck. I believe we were hit as we were crossing an intersection.

I remember visiting my dad at the electronics store where he worked and seeing tons of equipment lying about, their guts haphazardly displayed and waiting to be fixed. I remember my mother working as a telephone operator at night to bring in extra money.

I remember visiting HUNDREDS of yard sales and coming home with bargains. I remember wearing a pair of white overalls all the time. Mom had stitched my name on the pocket in some navy blue thread and in some loopy stitch so that it felt fuzzy to the touch. I remember skirts, pants and shirts that mom sewed for me to wear to school. And how embarrassed I was to wear all of that stuff starting about sixth grade.

I remember Mrs. Bacon (Kdg teacher), Mrs. Smith (2nd grade teacher?), Mrs. Hill (4th grade teacher), Mrs. Wilson (5th grade teacher) and Ms. Roberts (sixth grade teacher). I remember starting kindergarten and feeling both scared and excited. I also remember leaving elementary school in sixth grade feeling scared and excited about starting junior high.

I went to Doling Elementary School, Reed Junior High and Hillcrest High School. Doling school has been converted to some building for the school system – it’s no longer a school – Reed Junior High and Hillcrest High are still there. I think our mascot was: Doling Dolphins (which is what our kids elementary school mascot was), Reed Beavers (which I HATED because I thought that sounded sexually suggestive and just plain stupid) and Hillcrest Hornets (which I thought was dorky at first. But then we started winning games and I realized that hornets are actually very mean when provoked and thought it was cool).

But what do I remember the MOST about being a kid? Being happy and well adjusted.

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The Coffee Chat participants so far are …

1. Berry from Berry Berry Quite Contrary

2. Missy from Missy’s Spot.

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