During this time frame Jackie became the neighborhood babysitter. She was actually really good at it. At this time she was still really fun and I do remember her chasing us around the house cackling like a witch and trying to catch us and tickle us. And the kids she babysat spent lots of hours at our house and sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes that was a bad thing….
One group of kids was a band of brothers …. 3 of them. Their parents were on Dad and Jackie’s bowling team and so we not only spent all week together but then the weekends also… and as the years went on I actually joined a bowling team with the two older brothers. I loved going over their house because as far as boys go they were actually really fun…they were definitely always looking for trouble but I didn’t mind it much because they usually let me in on it and the oldest brother was actually my first crush… I remember after bowling we would always go for pizza and he always put salt on his pizza and I thought it was the weirdest thing ever but because he was so cute I was absolutely willing to overlook this little oddity.
There was also a brother and sister that lived kitty corner to us…. the Bordattos. She didn’t watch them every day but when she did I liked it because the girl was my age and we had a lot of fun together but the little brother was a pain in the behind and actually chucked a matchbox car at me one day and almost sliced my eye…
There was another brother and sister…. Adam and Karen….they were there Monday through Friday and I really liked Karen… she was my age and always wore her hair parted on the side which I thought was just really sophisticated, and she had it pulled back by a barrette and her clothes were always really really clean. She was quiet… but nice and the best part was her little brother was nothing like the Matchbox throwing kind… he was timid and would do anything Karen told him and we took advantage of that probably more than we should have….
And then there was Kim….Kim was a force to be reckoned with and I had no idea that just a few short years later she would become the most popular girl in the entire school but as luck would have it she and I hated each other with a passion from first glance… and she made my life a living hell every single moment she came over. Picture Nellie from Little house on the Prairie and then amp that up about 50 notches and you will come close to the visualization of Kim… Her favorite game to play with me was to ask me if I wanted to play Barbies and I of course would say yes and so she would tell me to dump the Barbie bin so we could play and as soon as I dumped it she would say to me “Never mind I don’t want to play and the last person to touch the toys has to pick it up” and she would walk off and I was left to pick up all the stuff….and the worst part was I fell for this little game of hers at least three times a week! What a schmuck! Kim seemed to be everywhere I was…I started bowling and she started bowling… I started taking roller skating lessons… and of course she started taking roller skating lessons…but the worst… the very worst was when I entered my “rainbow” fashion phase.
I loved me some rainbows and would happily convince my mother to buy me any garment with a rainbow on it that I could get my grubby hands on. I would draw them with chalk on the sidewalk, I would doodle them in notebooks, and one of my first real attempts at interior design stemmed from a spiral notebook and a set of Pentel markers and I drew fifty five rainbow designs and hung them from string from my canopy bed…. I loved them and then one day I went to school and there was Kim wearing a rainbow windbreaker!
This was just at the beginning stages of her ride on the popularity express train and she was starting to develop a small following and when I saw her with that rainbow jacket I was just shooting mad because I apparently thought that I owned the market on rainbow paraphernalia… and I felt kind of special because I liked rainbows before rainbows were really cool. But within days of Kim’s rainbow windbreaker her cult following began donning rainbow necklaces and shoelaces and purses and hair barrettes…and she spotted me one day with my rainbow shirt on and called me a copy cat in front of all her friends! And I was just spittin mad because she knew that I knew that she played in my room and saw all my rainbow designs and my entire collection and I had it before she even thought of it but no one would believe me….silly I know but that rainbow started a feud that would last into high school with this girl!
So long ago but wow who knew six little colors in an arch could cause such a sting in my memory banks! Remind me to thank Noah for that one!
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Questions of the Day:
• Who was your first crush?
• What was your favorite type of pizza and did you have a special place you ordered it?
• Did you collect anything when you were a kid?
• What is your most embarrassing fashion moment?
• What kind of bed did you sleep on when you were little?
• What did your bedroom look like?
• Did your mom or older sister ever baby-sit kids that came over to your house?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
8 is great!
8 is great….well according to the Mormon church that is the saying and I just so happened to turn 8 years old when I lived in Woodgate Court. The reason 8 is so great is because that is the age you get baptized when you are a Mormon and this is a pretty big deal.
My cousin Nancy (who was my favorite cousin and I spent gads of time at her house) also turned 8 that year and so we waited for our Grandpa RL Barker to come out for his visit from Utah to baptize us.
I loved my Grandpa… he was my dad’s dad and he came out every year if I remember correctly in a Winnebago…I’m not certain of that but it’s what my mind wants to remember so I’m gonna run with it.
When my Grandpa came out he was the type of Grandpa that was not afraid to crawl on the floor and play and when he visited me he would always play dolls with me. I remember that I would always keep the pretty doll and give him the one with the pen marks on her face and the hair sticking up five ways to Sunday….and he never complained…but always laughed about her appearance.
My cousin Nancy and I would lay a whole deck of cards out along their hallway to play match game and if Grandpa was around he would play with us and we would make anyone coming down the hallway tiptoe around all those cards….but my favorite part of having Grandpa around was I realized pretty early on that if I had to listen to what MY dad said then I was pretty sure my dad had to listen to what HIS dad said… and I took full advantage of this.
Nancy and I would always go up to Grandpa and make him “order” our dads (his sons) to let me and Nancy have a sleepover….I am certain they would have done it even if Grandpa wasn’t there to usher the command but to me it always felt like this little secret twist of victory because we had them cornered!
I don’t remember much about my baptism except that I had reallllllly long hair and I was ultra paranoid that a piece of it was going to float up above the water when I was plunged under and I would have to be redone….I saw it happen once because of a toe or something and I really really didn’t want that to happen to me. The one thing I do remember is walking down into the baptism font and my grandpa smiling at me and holding out his hand… it was really quiet as I got ready to step down into the water and when I put my foot in the water was freezing and I looked at Grandpa and said pretty loud “Holy moley this water is freezing” and he started to laugh and when he did I just remember all my nervousness disappearing.
I didn’t spend lots of time with my Grandpa…since he lived in Utah and I grew up in VA but I do remember when he died my dad was really really sad… and as a little girl I hated seeing him that sad. And sometimes at night when I would sit at the kitchen table with him late into the evening as he would drink and talk….he would talk about his dad and it was one of the few times I ever really saw him cry. R. L Barker was a great man… and I think that greatness rubbed off on my father. He didn’t approve of a lot of my fathers choices but he loved him….veraciously and because I saw that it made me adore him as a Grandpa.
When Grandpa died Nancy and I were really sad too… and Aunt Renee, Nancy’s mom, did the neatest thing. She got out some paper and crayons and she told us to write a letter to Grandpa to let him know we missed him and if we put them in this certain drawer in her kitchen they would magically be sent up to heaven and he would be able to read them…. And so we colored him a picture and wrote him a letter and we sealed them up in an envelope and then put them in that drawer and she and I went out to play. About an hour later we came back in and ran to that drawer to check to see if our letters made their way up to the pearly gates and to our astonishment they were gone! And I felt a little better knowing that even though he was gone… he knew that we still missed playing match cards and dolls with him and it made the sadness just a little softer!
What a clever woman that Aunt Renee was!
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Questions for the Day:
• In your church did you have a confirmation or baptism or some ceremony?
• What was your Grandpa like?
• Did you have a favorite worn out toy?
• Did you have any special cousins or extended family that you were close with?
• What did you picture heaven like when you were a kid?
• Where there any tricks you played on your mom and dad that you can remember?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
My cousin Nancy (who was my favorite cousin and I spent gads of time at her house) also turned 8 that year and so we waited for our Grandpa RL Barker to come out for his visit from Utah to baptize us.
I loved my Grandpa… he was my dad’s dad and he came out every year if I remember correctly in a Winnebago…I’m not certain of that but it’s what my mind wants to remember so I’m gonna run with it.
When my Grandpa came out he was the type of Grandpa that was not afraid to crawl on the floor and play and when he visited me he would always play dolls with me. I remember that I would always keep the pretty doll and give him the one with the pen marks on her face and the hair sticking up five ways to Sunday….and he never complained…but always laughed about her appearance.
My cousin Nancy and I would lay a whole deck of cards out along their hallway to play match game and if Grandpa was around he would play with us and we would make anyone coming down the hallway tiptoe around all those cards….but my favorite part of having Grandpa around was I realized pretty early on that if I had to listen to what MY dad said then I was pretty sure my dad had to listen to what HIS dad said… and I took full advantage of this.
Nancy and I would always go up to Grandpa and make him “order” our dads (his sons) to let me and Nancy have a sleepover….I am certain they would have done it even if Grandpa wasn’t there to usher the command but to me it always felt like this little secret twist of victory because we had them cornered!
I don’t remember much about my baptism except that I had reallllllly long hair and I was ultra paranoid that a piece of it was going to float up above the water when I was plunged under and I would have to be redone….I saw it happen once because of a toe or something and I really really didn’t want that to happen to me. The one thing I do remember is walking down into the baptism font and my grandpa smiling at me and holding out his hand… it was really quiet as I got ready to step down into the water and when I put my foot in the water was freezing and I looked at Grandpa and said pretty loud “Holy moley this water is freezing” and he started to laugh and when he did I just remember all my nervousness disappearing.
I didn’t spend lots of time with my Grandpa…since he lived in Utah and I grew up in VA but I do remember when he died my dad was really really sad… and as a little girl I hated seeing him that sad. And sometimes at night when I would sit at the kitchen table with him late into the evening as he would drink and talk….he would talk about his dad and it was one of the few times I ever really saw him cry. R. L Barker was a great man… and I think that greatness rubbed off on my father. He didn’t approve of a lot of my fathers choices but he loved him….veraciously and because I saw that it made me adore him as a Grandpa.
When Grandpa died Nancy and I were really sad too… and Aunt Renee, Nancy’s mom, did the neatest thing. She got out some paper and crayons and she told us to write a letter to Grandpa to let him know we missed him and if we put them in this certain drawer in her kitchen they would magically be sent up to heaven and he would be able to read them…. And so we colored him a picture and wrote him a letter and we sealed them up in an envelope and then put them in that drawer and she and I went out to play. About an hour later we came back in and ran to that drawer to check to see if our letters made their way up to the pearly gates and to our astonishment they were gone! And I felt a little better knowing that even though he was gone… he knew that we still missed playing match cards and dolls with him and it made the sadness just a little softer!
What a clever woman that Aunt Renee was!
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Questions for the Day:
• In your church did you have a confirmation or baptism or some ceremony?
• What was your Grandpa like?
• Did you have a favorite worn out toy?
• Did you have any special cousins or extended family that you were close with?
• What did you picture heaven like when you were a kid?
• Where there any tricks you played on your mom and dad that you can remember?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
Thursday, June 24, 2010
What strange little ducks!
Okay I am going to share with you perhaps my favorite memory of all from this neighborhood… but I am warning you after reading this you will absolutely for certain know that I am a strange creature and that oddity was cultivated at a very young age!
I grew up Mormon and because of the situation with my family and my parents drinking I did not have many Mormon friends that were allowed to spend the night… but I had one friend, Erica B. who would spend the night often when I lived at Woodgate Court.
When she would come over we would clear every single thing out of my closet and lay out blankets and make my closet our own little sleeping fort. It was cramped but we loved being all squeezed in there with a flashlight giggling all night. And then on Saturdays we would wake up and put on our best most grown up church dresses… and I was always deeply jealous that she had a suit because it looked much more professional than I did in my dress.
After we were convinced that we looked at least 35 we would take our clipboards and notepaper and pens and begin going door to door and randomly survey people about whatever subject popped into our mind. …. And we were alllll business. No giggling or laughing… or acting unprofessional ever. We would have lengthy conversations with people asking them about tv shows, popcorn, Banquet fried chicken, the community rec. center… whatever popped into our mind for the day.
Most of the neighbors would indulge us in our little game… I would say maybe 90% opened the door and talked to us and took us seriously… never laughing at these foolish girls trying to act all grown up. There were a couple that would get irritated and slam the door on us but they were few and far between. It was because of those surveys that when it came time to sell candy bars door to door for a fundraiser I made a killing… because everyone already knew me.
I look back now and think to myself “what strange little ducks” and try to imagine what I would do if some 8 or 9 year old girl all dressed up in church clothes came knocking on my door and asking silly questions in the most serious tone imaginable… I think unfortunately I would probably bust into the giggles and be unable to take them seriously! But then again in the world of today… kids aren’t encouraged to go knocking on random strangers doors so I guess I don’t have to worry about it too much!
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Questions for the day:
• What kind of things did you do on sleepovers when you were little?
• Do you remember any fundraisers you did?
• Did you have a friend that you always did crazy things with?
• Did you ever play dress up?
• Where you a shy kid or were you more outgoing?
• Did you do anything when you were younger that just makes you shake your head in embarrassment now that you are grown up?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
I grew up Mormon and because of the situation with my family and my parents drinking I did not have many Mormon friends that were allowed to spend the night… but I had one friend, Erica B. who would spend the night often when I lived at Woodgate Court.
When she would come over we would clear every single thing out of my closet and lay out blankets and make my closet our own little sleeping fort. It was cramped but we loved being all squeezed in there with a flashlight giggling all night. And then on Saturdays we would wake up and put on our best most grown up church dresses… and I was always deeply jealous that she had a suit because it looked much more professional than I did in my dress.
After we were convinced that we looked at least 35 we would take our clipboards and notepaper and pens and begin going door to door and randomly survey people about whatever subject popped into our mind. …. And we were alllll business. No giggling or laughing… or acting unprofessional ever. We would have lengthy conversations with people asking them about tv shows, popcorn, Banquet fried chicken, the community rec. center… whatever popped into our mind for the day.
Most of the neighbors would indulge us in our little game… I would say maybe 90% opened the door and talked to us and took us seriously… never laughing at these foolish girls trying to act all grown up. There were a couple that would get irritated and slam the door on us but they were few and far between. It was because of those surveys that when it came time to sell candy bars door to door for a fundraiser I made a killing… because everyone already knew me.
I look back now and think to myself “what strange little ducks” and try to imagine what I would do if some 8 or 9 year old girl all dressed up in church clothes came knocking on my door and asking silly questions in the most serious tone imaginable… I think unfortunately I would probably bust into the giggles and be unable to take them seriously! But then again in the world of today… kids aren’t encouraged to go knocking on random strangers doors so I guess I don’t have to worry about it too much!
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Questions for the day:
• What kind of things did you do on sleepovers when you were little?
• Do you remember any fundraisers you did?
• Did you have a friend that you always did crazy things with?
• Did you ever play dress up?
• Where you a shy kid or were you more outgoing?
• Did you do anything when you were younger that just makes you shake your head in embarrassment now that you are grown up?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
Backhoe Bob
While we lived in Woodgate Court..and really for most of my childhood my father was a backhoe operator for Consolidated Plumbing. They put in the sewer lines for housing developments. He was part of a two man team… He ran the backhoe and his counter part named Sprigs always did the ground work. Sprigs was a very very. very large black man… think “The Green Mile” and you are close to capturing the essence of Sprigs. My dad loved this man they worked side by side and he would not work with anyone else. It was said that my dad and Sprigs could lay more pipe than an entire crew they were that good together. Even though he was such a big guy I really liked him because he always called my dad Mister Barker but it always came out with his deep southern drawl so it was more like “Mista Bahka”...he was a gentle giant.
On occasion when we would pick up my dad from work he would let me crawl onto his lap and “run” the backhoe which I thought was possibly the coolest thing on the planet. I loved picking him up from work…he carried a black metal lunchbox and every day left a little of his lunch for me… some nibblet or treat for me and Sherri and I swear I have never tasted beef jerky that tastes half as good as my fathers half eaten slim jims left in that box baking in the Virginia sun during the workday.
My oldest brother Donald worked with him for awhile and got real cocky saying he was a better backhoe operator than my father so my dad never being a man to back down challenged him to a test of skill. They lined the backhoe’s up and put a raw egg in front of the large bucket and the both of them had to slowly roll the egg with just the bucket down the road and the first one to break it lost. Needless to say a few inches in and my brother broke his egg… but my father rolled that egg the entire length of the road.. an asphalt road and I remember the whole work crew lined up and watching and when he was done everyone was just in disbelief and my father got out of that backhoe and just looked at my brother and didn’t say a word with his mouth but that smile of his put Donald to shame.
His skill was well rewarded with the company and one day we were sitting at the dinner table and my father came in and told us to go outside there was a surprise and there sitting in front of the house was a green Cadillac El Dorado. It was mint green and the biggest longest car I had ever seen. He piled us into the car immediately and took us for a spin and the entire time never stopped talking about how smooth it rode. He loved that car…and it really did ride smooth.
One year we drove it all the way to Florida, he put a crib mattress in the backseat and me and Sherri hung out lounging on it the entire trip and when my dad got tired we pulled over and sat in the front while he napped in the back.
My dad was really a jack of all trades but his skill with the backhoe in my mind is legendary…He was an artist with it really and to this day I always think about him and that egg whenever I see one at a construction site.
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On occasion when we would pick up my dad from work he would let me crawl onto his lap and “run” the backhoe which I thought was possibly the coolest thing on the planet. I loved picking him up from work…he carried a black metal lunchbox and every day left a little of his lunch for me… some nibblet or treat for me and Sherri and I swear I have never tasted beef jerky that tastes half as good as my fathers half eaten slim jims left in that box baking in the Virginia sun during the workday.
My oldest brother Donald worked with him for awhile and got real cocky saying he was a better backhoe operator than my father so my dad never being a man to back down challenged him to a test of skill. They lined the backhoe’s up and put a raw egg in front of the large bucket and the both of them had to slowly roll the egg with just the bucket down the road and the first one to break it lost. Needless to say a few inches in and my brother broke his egg… but my father rolled that egg the entire length of the road.. an asphalt road and I remember the whole work crew lined up and watching and when he was done everyone was just in disbelief and my father got out of that backhoe and just looked at my brother and didn’t say a word with his mouth but that smile of his put Donald to shame.
His skill was well rewarded with the company and one day we were sitting at the dinner table and my father came in and told us to go outside there was a surprise and there sitting in front of the house was a green Cadillac El Dorado. It was mint green and the biggest longest car I had ever seen. He piled us into the car immediately and took us for a spin and the entire time never stopped talking about how smooth it rode. He loved that car…and it really did ride smooth.
One year we drove it all the way to Florida, he put a crib mattress in the backseat and me and Sherri hung out lounging on it the entire trip and when my dad got tired we pulled over and sat in the front while he napped in the back.
My dad was really a jack of all trades but his skill with the backhoe in my mind is legendary…He was an artist with it really and to this day I always think about him and that egg whenever I see one at a construction site.
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Questions for the day:
• Where did your dad or mom work when you were growing up?
• Was there something your parents were really good at that you remember?
• Do you remember any of the cars from your childhood?
• Did you have a special memory with your father?
• Did you ever go visit your dad or mom at work?
• Did you ever go on any road trips?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
• Where did your dad or mom work when you were growing up?
• Was there something your parents were really good at that you remember?
• Do you remember any of the cars from your childhood?
• Did you have a special memory with your father?
• Did you ever go visit your dad or mom at work?
• Did you ever go on any road trips?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
Boys…dance contests and cheek pinching!
In Woodgate Court there was a boy named Mike Harper…his father drove the Frito Lay truck…and that truck was always home base whenever we played hide and seek. I don’t remember much about Mike….but his father is the single reason I will visibly flinch if a hand gets close to my cheek. Every single day whenever he would see me he would lean over and pinch my cheeks… HARD…and he would always smile and laugh at me when I scowled. I am convinced that if the bumper on the Frito Lay truck was not the perfect size for an 8 year old butt to sit on after a long game of hide and seek, I would have told him what I really thought about his cheek pinching. But alas that truck was in the perfect spot for home base and the bumper was just the right size so I kept my yap shut!
The Deleans were two boys that lived about five townhouses away from Mike Harper… kitty corner to my house. Their parents were kind of caught in the Disco era…real flashy and sassy. I remember a few times she had us over for a dance contest and me and Danny the younger of the brothers danced our butts off and won. I am certain this is where my obsession for dancing began. Danny was a quiet sort… and was always willing to play house with me. Our favorite hiding spot was behind his bushes in front of his house and we would sit there for hours coloring and talking. It was behind those bushes I got my first kiss from him… which weirded both of us out and we both quickly decided that playing house was fine but kissing was not really in the cards for us.
In between the Harpers and the Delean’s there was a family that was reeeaaaalllly hippified. When you walked into their house there were all these purple lights and she had plants everywhere and it always smelled funny. There was a younger boy that lived there, he was maybe 5 years old and one night he set the house on fire because he was playing with matches. After the fire they brought all the neighborhood kids through the house to show us what can happen when you play with matches and it scared us enough to make us steer clear of flame for the next 10 years. I remember walking through the charred inside of the house and just wincing trying to imagine how much trouble I would have gotten in by my father if I had burned the house down and frankly I was actually a little surprised that boy was still alive after doing that.
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Questions for the day:
• Did you ever have any family members or people around you that would pinch your cheeks or do some annoying thing every time you saw them?
• Where there any people in your neighborhood that were “characters” and stood out for some reason?
• Who was your first kiss?
• Did you play house or school or pretend and if so who played with you?
• Where was your favorite hiding spot as a kid?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
Woodgate Court
I think out of any of the places I lived this was my favorite. Life had really simmered down quite a bit, and we all seemed to be settling into a pattern of semi normalcy (once again I use that term lightly).
I have so many good memories from this place the bulk of them involve the group of kids that lived in this neighborhood. There were about 15 of us and we all were about the same age. In the summer right in the center of our court there was a little circle parking lot that I guess was some sort of turnabout and overflow for campers and whatnot. I cannot tell you how many nights in the summer we spent in that circle playing kickball until the streetlamps came on.
There were three of us girls in the neighborhood that were pretty close and we would take our bikes (mine was a Strawberry shortcake bike with streamers on the handlebars) and we would just ride all day long in the summer. Missy had the same bike as me and after the long rides we would sit on the curb and she would bring out frozen cantaloupe balls for us to chomp on while we cooled down. Toward the end of the first summer we found out Missy was moving away. Michelle and I were devastated and the night before she moved away we spent the night in Missy’s room reminiscing about all of our adventures, eating Tid Bit cheese crackers and crying into the night.
After she moved away Michelle and I became a lot closer. Her brother was an odd duck… really tall… like the tallest guy I had ever seen and he was always eating peanut butter straight out of the jar with a spoon…but it was her mother that used to scare the pajamas off of me. She was tough and ballsy. She worked as the office manager with a construction company. I remember on Saturday’s going with Michelle and keeping her company while her mom was working, we would wander around the work yard and pick up little balls of tar and throw them at each other… and then when her mom was finished she would take us to Victoria Station for lunch. It was the absolute coolest place because the restaurant was in an actual boxcar. I tasted Chocolate Mousse for the first time at Victoria Station and I remember I thought I had died and gone to heaven… it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted.
I wish I could remember Missy or Michelle’s last name…it’s weird that I can remember cantaloupe balls and what kind of bike I had but not a name…I guess it is because when you’re a kid names don’t really matter as much as what kind of bike you ride…. And sometimes I wish adults still operated that way!
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Questions for the day:
• Who were your bosom friends in the neighborhood growing up?
• Did you ever have a friend that moved away or did you move away?
• What did your bike look like when you were a kid?
• What was your favorite snack to cool you down on hot summer days?
• Did any of your friend's parents impact your life in any way?
• What was your favorite game to play when you were young?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
I have so many good memories from this place the bulk of them involve the group of kids that lived in this neighborhood. There were about 15 of us and we all were about the same age. In the summer right in the center of our court there was a little circle parking lot that I guess was some sort of turnabout and overflow for campers and whatnot. I cannot tell you how many nights in the summer we spent in that circle playing kickball until the streetlamps came on.
There were three of us girls in the neighborhood that were pretty close and we would take our bikes (mine was a Strawberry shortcake bike with streamers on the handlebars) and we would just ride all day long in the summer. Missy had the same bike as me and after the long rides we would sit on the curb and she would bring out frozen cantaloupe balls for us to chomp on while we cooled down. Toward the end of the first summer we found out Missy was moving away. Michelle and I were devastated and the night before she moved away we spent the night in Missy’s room reminiscing about all of our adventures, eating Tid Bit cheese crackers and crying into the night.
After she moved away Michelle and I became a lot closer. Her brother was an odd duck… really tall… like the tallest guy I had ever seen and he was always eating peanut butter straight out of the jar with a spoon…but it was her mother that used to scare the pajamas off of me. She was tough and ballsy. She worked as the office manager with a construction company. I remember on Saturday’s going with Michelle and keeping her company while her mom was working, we would wander around the work yard and pick up little balls of tar and throw them at each other… and then when her mom was finished she would take us to Victoria Station for lunch. It was the absolute coolest place because the restaurant was in an actual boxcar. I tasted Chocolate Mousse for the first time at Victoria Station and I remember I thought I had died and gone to heaven… it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted.
I wish I could remember Missy or Michelle’s last name…it’s weird that I can remember cantaloupe balls and what kind of bike I had but not a name…I guess it is because when you’re a kid names don’t really matter as much as what kind of bike you ride…. And sometimes I wish adults still operated that way!
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Questions for the day:
• Who were your bosom friends in the neighborhood growing up?
• Did you ever have a friend that moved away or did you move away?
• What did your bike look like when you were a kid?
• What was your favorite snack to cool you down on hot summer days?
• Did any of your friend's parents impact your life in any way?
• What was your favorite game to play when you were young?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Boys will be boys....
I feel like before we get any further along I need to get down on paper some stories… that I have heard but cannot remember with my own two eyes. They are the kind of stories that make me laugh and remember that even in dysfunction… kids will be kids.
When we lived on Nettle Tree my brothers kind of ran the block and they decided that it was in the best interest of the neighborhood if they formed their own police squad. Please keep in mind that this police squad was run by boys still on bicycles but nonetheless they patrolled with a vengeance. They would issue tickets to neighborhood kids that were “riding on the wrong side of the sidewalk” and on occasion were known to cart the real troublesome ones off to “jail”. Jail consisted of a room in our basement where kids would spend entire days hoping and waiting for someone to come bust them loose. From what I understand on more than one occasion parents in the neighborhood placed a very angry phone call to my mother asking her to release their child from “jail” so they could make it home for dinner.
In elementary school one of my brothers went for one year with me to that school and that was the best year of my entire scholastic existence because he was the leader of a “gang” (more like a Fonzie type of gang than the Bloods or Krips type) and because he was the leader no one bothered me ever. I thought it was just about the coolest thing I had ever seen when he would snap his fingers at the lunch table and they would pull out his chair for him.
Barry went through an Evil Kenevil spell and dislocated his collar bone when he attempted to jump a string of garbage cans….Donald was the mastermind of most of the plans…and David always seemed to march to the beat of his own drummer.
I have not been very close to these guys most of my life… but these stories kind of define how I always picture them…Barry is daring and bold and courageous… Donald has a mind full of ideas… and David is an individual that has an uncanny ability to influence the people around him. And though after Nettle Tree I didn’t spend much time with all three of the brothers…these stories make me smile and takes a little bit of the sting from that house.
………………………………………….............
Questions for the Day:
• Did you have any neighborhood kids that ran the block when you were little?
• Who did you hang out with in your neighborhood?
• What funny memories do you have with your brothers and sisters?
• What was elementary school like for you?
• Did you ever do something crazy because of a dare?
• What kind of bicycle did you have?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
When we lived on Nettle Tree my brothers kind of ran the block and they decided that it was in the best interest of the neighborhood if they formed their own police squad. Please keep in mind that this police squad was run by boys still on bicycles but nonetheless they patrolled with a vengeance. They would issue tickets to neighborhood kids that were “riding on the wrong side of the sidewalk” and on occasion were known to cart the real troublesome ones off to “jail”. Jail consisted of a room in our basement where kids would spend entire days hoping and waiting for someone to come bust them loose. From what I understand on more than one occasion parents in the neighborhood placed a very angry phone call to my mother asking her to release their child from “jail” so they could make it home for dinner.
In elementary school one of my brothers went for one year with me to that school and that was the best year of my entire scholastic existence because he was the leader of a “gang” (more like a Fonzie type of gang than the Bloods or Krips type) and because he was the leader no one bothered me ever. I thought it was just about the coolest thing I had ever seen when he would snap his fingers at the lunch table and they would pull out his chair for him.
Barry went through an Evil Kenevil spell and dislocated his collar bone when he attempted to jump a string of garbage cans….Donald was the mastermind of most of the plans…and David always seemed to march to the beat of his own drummer.
I have not been very close to these guys most of my life… but these stories kind of define how I always picture them…Barry is daring and bold and courageous… Donald has a mind full of ideas… and David is an individual that has an uncanny ability to influence the people around him. And though after Nettle Tree I didn’t spend much time with all three of the brothers…these stories make me smile and takes a little bit of the sting from that house.
………………………………………….............
Questions for the Day:
• Did you have any neighborhood kids that ran the block when you were little?
• Who did you hang out with in your neighborhood?
• What funny memories do you have with your brothers and sisters?
• What was elementary school like for you?
• Did you ever do something crazy because of a dare?
• What kind of bicycle did you have?
Of course you don’t have to answer all of them or any of them for that matter… but if any of them made you think… I’d love for you to capture those thoughts so you have them to share… because they are worth being heard !
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