Thursday Thirteen #10

13 wonderful memories I've made

The mind is extremely complicated...God created us with the ability to make decisions and think on our own. He also gave us the ability to remember things by using our senses. Smell, sight, sound, taste and touch all have an effect on the memories we make. My Dad is currently suffering from Alzheimer's Disease in the later stages, so I have been thinking quite a bit about the mind and how our memory is vital to our daily existence. I am thankful for the many wonderful memories I have stored away in my mind...hopefully I won't ever forget them. Here are just a few:

1. When I was young, my family and I were in a cottage where a plane crashed into it. The one part that sticks out in my mind though, was my Dad rushing up to the 2nd floor to save us girls (my sister and I). He didn't know that my Mom already rushed us outside the front door. When he realized we weren't up there, he attempted to come back down but couldn't - the stairs were already engulfed in flames. He had to jump out of the window of the 2nd floor, but before doing that, Dad thought enough to throw out my favorite stuffed animal!! I still have the little doggie today that Dad saved for me. It's something that he did for me that touched my heart like never before!!!

2. Giving birth to both of my children obviously is a big memory stored in my mind...not only the births but the pregnancies. I didn't have a normal pregnancy for either. With my son, I was given extra tests because we were told he would be born with DS. We knew God would bless us with a wonderful child even if he had DS, but it was still hard to handle. Fortunately though the doctors were all wrong and 'Lionel' was perfectly fine! My pregnancy with Sweet-Pea was difficult too - I was on bed rest for 90% of that pregnancy due to a blood clot. All went well though and she too was perfectly fine. We are truly blessed!!

3. My sister and I used to walk home from school together when we were older; we'd be home alone after school for a few hours before our parents came home from work. Well, we would often forget our house key, but that never stopped us! I wore barrettes back then (dork!) and I used them to pick the back door lock. It worked every time and to this day I am amazed that my folks never changed that lock! If a 14 year old could pick the lock...certainly a burgler could too!

4. I worked at Camp-of-the-Woods, a Christian camp (more like a family resort) for 10 summers of my life. I played the flute on the music staff. That place was like a 2nd home to me for a long time. My parents went up when I was just an infant, we never missed a summer! I also went to the girl's camp (an island in the middle of the lake) for 9 years prior to working on the mainland. Our own family has gone up many times, but it's too expensive now and has changed quite a bit. It's just not the same place it used to be, especially since the new crew took over. The old camp will always be in my heart!

5. My honeymoon in Scotland was and is one of my favorite memories! Of course my wedding day was incredible, but the first days of our marriage in Scotland were so much better than I could have ever imagined! We stayed in castles, drove all over the whole country visiting every romantic spot around, shopped in quaint little villages and even got the chance to look up some things about my heritage - my family comes from Scotland.

6. I was a short-term missionary down in South Africa at a conference Center just outside of Durban. I was there almost a year the first time, and then returned the next year for the summer. The experiences I had while there hold dear to my heart. It was hard being away from my family, but I met the most wonderful people who became my adopted family. They even brought me on vacation throughout the entire South African region! That's something I could never have done alone.

7. I rode on a mule down the Grand Canyon - yeah, pretty stupid huh? I was 18 at the time. I was on a trip across the country with 20 other students from my college (along with our professor). It was a summer program where we got to travel lots and at the same time, earn lots of college credits - not too bad 'eh? So, I rode "Harry" down to the bottom of the canyon. It was an awesome trip - I only wish I had a digital camera back then so I got better photos than I did. That was over 22 years ago! Wow.

8. My best friend and I (from early childhood) used to play together ALL the time. She lived on a dead-end street that was connected to my street, so we were very close. Not a day went by that we weren't playing together. When we hit our late elementary years I remember mixing cleaners in their bathroom to try and concoct the best bathroom cleaner ever. HOW DANGEROUS WAS THAT!?! Her parents had no idea, but we were using chemicals that I'm sure would implode if we weren't careful - it's a wonder we're alive today!

9. Playing Barbie dolls at home was one of my favorite past-times...I remember playing with them like it was yesterday! I had the dream home - complete with elevator, the camper, the airplane, the small one story house, the car, the bicycle and the 3 wheeler. Wow, was I spoiled or what?!? My sister had the exact same items too (minus the dream home which came out after she passed the Barbie phase). I still have a couple of the Barbie items from growing up, but they're falling apart. My daughter never got into Barbies like I did...she's into the American Girl dolls -something I'd have LOVED when I was young too!

10. I remember watching Abbot and Costello every Sunday morning after we got home from church. My parents would be making dinner (We always the 'big' meal of the day for lunch on Sundays) and my sister and I would be laying on the floor of the living room watching TV...lazy kids! ha ha The only show that came in clear on our old black and white TV set was Abbot and Costello. In order for it to come in clear, we had to put the channel dial half way between the numbers...and even then the horizontal or vertical lines would jump now and then. Ahh...those were the days!

11. I remember spending lots of time with my moms parents - Gramma and PopPop. I loved them dearly and miss them so much now. My sister and I used to sleep over their house every once in a while. We'd eat Ritz crackers with grape jelly on them, bake scones, learn to sew (I never really did learn though which I regret! My Gramma was the best seamstress around!!!), and play. We'd play darts in their basement, help Gramma hang the laundry outside on the line, play volleyball over the clean wet laundry (which she wasn't crazy about) and then hike in the woods behind their house. PopPop loved doing puzzles, so we would help him. They always had a western TV show playing, and they took us everywhere! One fond memory was when my Gramma would be down in her basement working on the laundry. She had an old marble topped table down there with a large pull-out chalkboard on it. I would sit for hours and just write and draw pictures on it. Gramma would usually be ironing or cleaning up. She was amazing!!!

12. My Dad was a draftsman - he worked as a tool designer for a major corporation. He was really good at his job and he loved doing it. He would often bring work home to do on his drafting table. When he wasn't there, I would sit at it and play with all his templates, his slide-rule and his fun erasers - the kind you pull the paper tab and it unravels. Those were SO cool! They also made wax pencils the same way. Well, I always wanted to be an architect, so using that table and pretending was a lot of fun for me. Unfortunately I never pursued my dream job though. Everyone told me that back then architect jobs weren't for women...I should have never listened to them!

13. One last memory was from nursery school. I loved going each day and remember not only the building, but my teacher and the other kids in my class - unbelievable huh? I remember the sandbox building out back, the playground, and also the large building blocks that you could build an entire club house out of - which I did. One boy kept knocking it down, and I remember getting in trouble because I hit him one day. He knocked it down one too many times. The teacher also scolded him, but I never got over the fact that he kept bothering me. My parents took a photo of me beside the house on the last day of school there. I still have that photo and I still get mad at that boy for teasing me and destroying my club house. ha ha I know...it's been almost 40 years...get over it. ha ha

Well, that's it in a nutshell...13 memories that are stored in my mind and heart. There are so many more, but this list is long enough! If you ever get the chance...take the time to write them all down, one day when you're old and gray and in a nursing home, maybe your children can read them all to you and help you remember fond memories from the past!