Childhood Memories

[bjh]

What are some of your earliest childhood memories? I am 60 years old so many of these memories are from the early to mid 50's.

I remember the last time I saw my real dad. I think I was around 4 years old and he was working at a big produce market in Missouri. I remember the bananas hanging from the ceiling. He gave a dollar. I thought that was so great but my mother thought it was cheap of him.

I remember my Aunt Curly's farm in Missouri. We had lots of fun there.

I remember living in Corpus Christi, TX as a small child, around 5 years old. There were these little furry caterpillars called asps, boy did they sting if you stepped on one. I also remember in Corpus the Buccaneer Days they had every year. I thought the fire works were the greatest and all the festivities. I also remember a young man that lived next door that tried to molest me when I was playing next door but I ran away. I never told my mom about that until I was grown. I remember my brother and I playing on a old car seat, he jumped off and that made the seat tip over and I hit my head on a pile of bricks. I remember my head bled a lot. My mom called a taxi and rushed me to the hospital where I had to have about 6 stitches in my head.

I remember my grandpa, going fishing with him, going out to the barn with him with a flashlight to shoot rats. He would laugh at me when the rooster would chase me or the milk cow. I loved my grandpa. He was a welder and he fell off some scaffling and was killed when I was around 11 years old.

After my mother remarried and I was adopted by her husband and he became my dad that raised me. We used to go to his parents farm in Karnes City, Texas. I loved that place. Riding horses, playing in the barn, taking a bath outside in a tub. They had no running water. My grandma made homemade butter. I did not like having to walk to the outhouse, they had a mean tom turkey that would chase me sometimes.

I remember when I found out there was not Santa. I wanted a reindeer for Christmas, that was all I wanted. I was around 6 years old. On Christmas morning we opened all the presents and there was no reindeer. I just cried and cried. My mom asked why I was crying and I told her. She had to explain about Santa then.

I could go on and on but these are my early memories. What are some of yours?

[Patti]

I am going to be 57 soon and some of my childhood memories are of being around 5 and every summer catching fireflies(lightning bugs) in a jar and letting them go. One time I was mad my sister caught more than me so I let hers go in the house. Also we could always run all day and night as long as we came home for meals, those were the days when it was safe. Also we lived a couple of miles from Lake Michigan and we would walk there and play at the beach all day and I can still remember that feeling of being at the water all day and being starving. My dad would always take us 4 kids and ay of our friends who happened to be around to the museums, zoos, forest preserves in his big station wagon. Boy I could go on and on this is bringing back so many memories, Great topic.

[bjh]

Oh, yes, I remember catching the fireflies too. You are so right about all the freedoms we had as small children. I would never of dreamed of letting my kids do all the things I did unsupervised as a child.

[MyLadies]

Your memories of Corpus Christi remind me of one of mine from South Texas. The one thing that came to mind right away was - in the late 60's we had an oyster shell driveway and I was quite the fan of Batman and/or Superman (about age 6). I remember putting my mom's apron on around my neck like a cape, then running down the Oyster Shell driveway as fast as I could - and, you guessed it - taking a flying leap.

Those Oyster Shells are sharp. They cut bad & deep! LOL! My poor shins!

Well at least I learned I couldn't fly.

[YorkieAZ]

HA! I loved to catch fireflies!

I remember when I was very small, my brother sister and I snuck out of the house to play in the snow and my mom found us and came after us with a wooden spoon, weird how I remember that. We lived in Vermont.

I remember sliding out of the back of our squareback volkswagon after we got home from the beach when we lived in N.C. and I sat on a bee on the way out and I remember my brother and sister thought it was hilariuos!! Not me.

I remember my best friend Paula that lived across the street was hit by a truck on her bike while riding to school and was thrown as high as a telephone pole, my mom would not let me go to her funeral, I had nightmares for a long time. I was about 7.

I remember raking leaves with a toy rake my mom bought me and my brother tried to pull it away, I pulled back and it went up my nose and ripped off the side of my nose, I remember the fear on my moms face as she drove me to the hopsital for stitches.

I remember sitting in an old crab apple tree with my siblings and munching away on them, I don't think I got sick but I remember watching them throw up..hehehe

I remember seeing a teddy bear in my moms closet and when I saw it under the tree christmas morning I knew there was no Santa, I believe I was 8.

[bjh]

Originally Posted by MyLadies

Your memories of Corpus Christi remind me of one of mine from South Texas. The one thing that came to mind right away was - in the late 60's we had an oyster shell driveway and I was quite the fan of Batman and/or Superman (about age 6). I remember putting my mom's apron on around my neck like a cape, then running down the Oyster Shell driveway as fast as I could - and, you guessed it - taking a flying leap.

Those Oyster Shells are sharp. They cut bad & deep! LOL! My poor shins!

Well at least I learned I couldn't fly.

I bet that did hurt. At least you did not try to fly off a roof.

[manolos mom]

Originally Posted by bjh

Oh, yes, I remember catching the fireflies too. You are so right about all the freedoms we had as small children. I would never of dreamed of letting my kids do all the things I did unsupervised as a child.

What has happened to fireflies. I dont see them anymore. I remember my first class trip when we moved to the states. It was Washington DC and I was in 6th grade. The Bus driver let us out around the Museums and told us to be back in the bus a 6pm. Wow, can you imagine that now!!!No Way...

[bjh]

Originally Posted by manolos mom

What has happened to fireflies. I dont see them anymore. I remember my first class trip when we moved to the states. It was Washington DC and I was in 6th grade. The Bus driver let us out around the Museums and told us to be back in the bus a 6pm. Wow, can you imagine that now!!!No Way...

I hardly see any either but I rarely go outside at night. The like warm humid areas. I remember when we lived it Louisiana there were lots of them.

No, I can't imagine a bus load of 6th graders just being dropped off. What year was that?

[bjh]

Originally Posted by YorkieAZ

HA! I loved to catch fireflies!

I remember when I was very small, my brother sister and I snuck out of the house to play in the snow and my mom found us and came after us with a wooden spoon, weird how I remember that. We lived in Vermont.

I remember sliding out of the back of our squareback volkswagon after we got home from the beach when we lived in N.C. and I sat on a bee on the way out and I remember my brother and sister thought it was hilariuos!! Not me.

I remember my best friend Paula that lived across the street was hit by a truck on her bike while riding to school and was thrown as high as a telephone pole, my mom would not let me go to her funeral, I had nightmares for a long time. I was about 7.

I remember raking leaves with a toy rake my mom bought me and my brother tried to pull it away, I pulled back and it went up my nose and ripped off the side of my nose, I remember the fear on my moms face as she drove me to the hopsital for stitches.

I remember sitting in an old crab apple tree with my siblings and munching away on them, I don't think I got sick but I remember watching them throw up..hehehe

I remember seeing a teddy bear in my moms closet and when I saw it under the tree christmas morning I knew there was no Santa, I believe I was 8.

My mother and grandmother use to get switches after us. I was a pretty good kid but my brother who is two years older than me was always getting into trouble. He got the belt taken to him a lot.

That was so sad what happened to your little friend and you getting hurt by the rake. I was lucky growing up, I never broke any bones but my brother broke his arm one time.

I don't think I have ever seen a crab apple tree. Shame on you for laughing at them. hehe

I do remember my mother catching my brother trying to smoke a cigarette when he was probably around 10 years old and she made him smoke a whole pack until he got sick. Let me tell you it did not work. He grew up smoking.

[capt_noonie]

I remember always thinking my mom was such a horrible cook. She has high blood pressure and always makes everything low sodium. Well, guess what ? I love salt. Me and my lil bro would grab the salt shaker and hide in the closet and just shake straight salt into our mouths b/c we were so desperate for it!

We just recently told her this. (I'm almost 30) She just about freaked out. It was funny.

I remember my dad always planning cross country road trips for "us kids" to see our country's national parks. Not my mom's idea of a vacation. She would always pout and complain and wouldn't help read the maps b/c she claimed she didn't know how. Other than that, going to Zion and Bryce Cyn was really cool. (After a while she didn't go anymore, heh heh)

[MeganS]

Well, I'm pretty young - 16 - and I'm trying to write down most of the memories I've got now while they're still clear, so that when I'm older I can remember them well.

When I was really young, I mostly remember my brother and I just having fun. He's 2 years older than me, and he's leaving for college in 2 weeks, which is just killing me. There was this huge tree on the corner of our street, and we'd almost kill ourselves trying to get to the top. There was a newspaper or something caught in one of the branches - and our goal was always to get up to it. Eventually, the guy who the tree belonged to cut off the branches so we wouldn't climb it (and kill ourselves in the process), but that never stopped us from trying. =P

I remember a lot of things with my old dog, Rusty. We had to rehome him 2 years ago (he is now being spoiled rotten by Alaskayorkie and his family ), but I got him when I was 6 and we did everything together. If I was catching lightening bugs with my brother, Rusty would be running around eating them haha. We'd go on walks all over the place. I remember when he got attacked by a pitbull. I was probably 8 years old. I was right around the corner from my house and this...jerk...who lived on the corner of the street sicked his dog on Rusty. Some nice old guy who was walking by got the dog off of him.

My first best friend, Shane, and I had SO much fun together. He'd always call me his "princess" haha. He moved when we were 7 and I've never heard from him , though my parents occasionally run into his mom.

and my best friends since then, Jess and Emily, and I have all kinds of memories, of course.

I almost kinda wish I could go back to then. as excited as I am for the future, I'm also kind of nervous and things are changing a lot, and sometimes I just wish that I could go back to when I was 8 and didn't have anything to care about.

[manolos mom]

Originally Posted by bjh

I hardly see any either but I rarely go outside at night. The like warm humid areas. I remember when we lived it Louisiana there were lots of them.

No, I can't imagine a bus load of 6th graders just being dropped off. What year was that?

Yikes, 1972.....

[coolbar]

I was born in 1955 in London.
As a 4 year old my brother and I used to play in bombed out buildings from the blitz a few years earlier.
Most of London at that time hadn't been rebuilt after the second world war.
It really felt at the time that a war was still on.

[coolbar]

In 1962 we moved from london to Essex.

I had never seen green fields before that, we would go out from dawn to dusk exploring our new countryside.

We made camps at various places so we always had somewhere to go.

[Mom2TwoYorkies]

Well, I was a child of the 70's (born in 67) and I remember a lot of things that I wished my own children could of experienced when they were growing up . . .I was the youngest of 4 children, but I was like an only child because there was such a big age difference (Sisters were 14, 13 and Brother was 11 when I was born)

I remember always being outside playing in the neighborhood and when my mom wanted me she'd ring this stupid bell . . .you could hear that thing for miles and I used to RUN home . . .I guess I was well trained . . . I remember finding the biggest hill in the neighborhood and trying to make it all the way down on my skateboard, lying down, in the middle of the road. I remember walking down to the elementary school and hanging around on the swingset or jungle gym and not having a care in the world . . walking down in the brook by my house and going through the underpasses to see how far they go . . .riding my bike carelessly, without a helmet and not on the sidewalk either . . .As I got into my teens I remember going over my girlfriend's house and sneaking the pony Miller beers from the refrigerator . . .her father never seemed to notice . . I had a pretty good childhood . . .no fears whatsoever . . .those were the days!