My best childhood memories without a doubt is all the summers that I spent with my grandparents. I went to their house either the day school was out or the next day and didn't come home until the day before school started and most of the time I left crying.

My worst is seeing my mom have a seizure and my dad making me run down to my uncles house to wake him up so he could go and get the ambulance and come and take my mom to the hospital. I got really upset because he wouldn't let me call. Later realized he wanted to get me out of the house and not sit there and watch.

Yes it does suck. My mom is still living but, my dad died 2 years ago at the age of 70 from emphyzema. I still can hear him answering the phone "howdy".

It also sucks that my grandmother my mom's mom died on my birthday almost 5 years ago. She was like a second mother to me. Spent all of my summers with her and my grandfather until I got up in high school and started playing basketball religiously(sp)

My best memory is when it was Christmas and I was 6 years old. I wanted a Barbie soooo bad. Another girl at school had one and I was so jealous. Well sure enough for Christmas I got her!! Mom has a picture of me holding her and I have a really big smile. I played and played with her and all the other Barbies that I got. I still have her and all of the others and they're in really good shape.

A fun memory that I have is also at Christmas time. My brother was about 6 or 7. My mom and I had run to the store for a short time and had left my brother at home. He wanted another GI Joe for Christmas and there was a package under the tree that he just knew was a GI Joe. He had taken the GI Joe that he had and had measured it against the box to see if a GI Joe would fit in the box. (It was a GI Joe.) Well, our house had a hallway that went from the front room into the back room. It ran through the center of the house and our Christmas tree was in the back room against the wall, but was at the end of the hallway. When we got back from the store Mom went to put some presents under the tree and noticed that the GI Joe package had been opened and "someone" had tried to re-wrap the box. Well, my brother said that he and our dashund had been running down the hallway and the dog had "run into the present", unwrapping it in the process. However, my brother assured my mom that he'd tried to wrap it back the best he could. I still remember him telling Mom the story. It was so funny!!!

My worst memories are when my dad had a mental breakdown when I was in high school. He thought that the Communists were after him and things got really weird, especially one night. He spent several months in a mental hospital. After he got home he and my mom would fight, but never in front of us. My mom would always have bruises, but she always said that she just bruised easily and we all believed her. In my wedding pictures you can tell that he doesn't look right. He was on so many drugs that his eyes don't look right. It's been 30 years and my mom and dad are divorced, so now I'm the one that has to keep a watch over his mental problems. I don't know what I'd do without my husband to help me.

OMG, I confess....I opened ALL my presents for YEARS cause I couldn't stand it. It was fairly common knowledge that I did it too.

Yea, but still hurt just the same. After my mom died....sometimes my dad would be a complete a$$ and not do something or go somewhere...because essentially he was pouting. Finally I got to the point....look, I'd let you to do X, but if he didn't, I did not let it spoil my time. He was missing out, not US :)

I remember doing it with ONE doll,and I was so paranoid that my Mom was gonna find out, she never did, but I never did it again. I was a GOOD girl.( after the guilt, took over) :rolleyes:

That's probably the one she threw out first, there's your karma ;)

I actually did this with the first Christmas gift hubby ever gave me when we were dating....he was silly enough to place it under our tree...that made it fair game :rolleyes: It was a gold heart necklace and earrings with diamonds....small ones, but diamonds just the same. ;)

I love everyones stories and memories..any more?

Absolute worse ever...you're not a kid anymore....both my parents are deceased and it sucks :([/QUOTE]

This hits home for me too. Both my parents died in "93 about 7 months apart. My last grandparent died 2 years ago- I often lately find myself wishing to talk to them about things. I tell my husband- there's no one left who knows my childhood. :(

Yes, I would have to say my best memories are of spending summers at my grandparents. They lived in a town of 800 while I lived in the city. I still think leaving the city and getting outdoors is the best thing ever.

To reverse the damage I did to this thread yesterday......

When we were kids, my mother sent us OUTSIDE immediately...you know....
it's nice, go outside. We hit those bikes, and literally travel in a 10 mile radius...did she know where we were? Ah, no and we didn't have to come in until the street lights came on. She actually preferred if we didn't :D The way I see it, someone could've kidnapped us, and no one would know until 8-10 hours later. Course back then apparently no one wanted anyone else's stinkin' kids. :eek:

Hey rrosenberry, did ya get a set of boot roller skates. You know, ones that laced up, instead of the metal suckers that clamped over your shoes and always fell off. And you couldn't adjust them cause first thing ya did...was lose the key that came with them. Any way got those one Christmas....the year Virginia had it's only white Christmas on record :rolleyes: You can NOT roller skate in snow :( I tried :eek:

One snow my dad and brothers built an igloo. It was so cool looking. Can't describe the inside cause it was boy's only...bleah. Having siblings did not mean they were nice to you....even if your mother told them to be :rolleyes:

Last thought on brothers....we'd wrestle and, of course, sis got pined. I'd sooner let them break my arm than say UNCLE :D If they took me down today, I still wouldn't say it :cheer:

PS I am so loving that cheerleader smiley :cheer:

This hits home for me too. Both my parents died in "93 about 7 months apart. My last grandparent died 2 years ago- I often lately find myself wishing to talk to them about things. I tell my husband- there's no one left who knows my childhood. :([/QUOTE]
Sure there is....it's you :) I do understand though....sometimes something happens and my first thought is....I need to call my dad :(

I used to talk to my mother every day at 4:30PM, every day....shortly after she died...wasn't really thinking and I had the phone number half way dialed before realizing what I was doing.....

And not to throw the thread off course...but I'm gonna.
Do you think your parents visit you? At the risk on being put on the whacked list....mine do....in dreams.....seriously. Not every dream they're in...there are some that just feel different, you feel good after :) Maybe they're not visits but they are to me :)

OMG! YES!!
Roller skating was my life from 4-8th grade,, mine was at the SKATE PLACE every Friday, night, while my mom and dad went out..usually Dad showed up a little intoxicated and occasionally wanted to skate... NOT good, I wanted to DIE, remember that feeling " OH DAD!" :mad: I had those skates, and the skate CASE, and those little glow green sticks,, and oh so many Pom-poms.

I grew up in the country and had a mini bike a Honda 50, lime green, I had paths through all my neighbors yards. So, I so get the " OUTSIDE" that was so my moms line. " Why would you wanna be inside?" We had all these huge pine trees behind my house, so we would make forts all the time.

I was just telling someone the other day about being outside morning till nighfall, and moms being ok with that, enjoying it.. LOL

:eek: We went to the skating rink too. I made out with a boy once at the skating rink :eek: And with the mother's intuition they had in those days...my mother knew immediately!!! I got in big trouble because....nice girls don't act like that :rolleyes: Actually someone snitched on me....but it took me years to realize how my mother found out the things she did. Wait a minute...maybe she'd done some of those things herself :eek:

PS...Rrosenberry, I had a motorcycle too...a full size one...not a mini bike. It was MINE, not my stinkin' brothers ;) I laid that thing over so many times. All summer my legs were covered in circular burn marks from the muffler :eek: All the boys thought I was so cool :cool:

Ok I've got another good memory.

When I was young like 4 or 5 my great grandma used to watch us wile my mom was at work. We would go out in her backyard and she would put sheets over the clothes lines and make us tents so we could play house. We would make salad out of leaves and flowers and pretend to eat it. She had a crate full of dishes for us to play with. Well one day I was digging for a bowl or something and I stuck my hand in the crate and pulled out a big TOAD!!! I started crying and peed my pants!

She would also put this big plastic sheet thing that she got at the store on a hill and put baby oil on it and me and my sisters would all go out in our panties and slip and slide all day long!!!

My great grandma is still alive and I am so thankful to have these memories!