Random childhood memories

First, a disclaimer. There are times when I speak before I think, and in hindsight, realize I should sometimes learn to just keep quiet. I'm not always good at this. I've written a few editorials in our local paper, and upon reading them the next day I sometimes cringe reading what I've written. But the thing is, I'm speaking from the heart, and you don't often hear people's true thoughts on a particular topic. It's one of the things that makes the Internet both a blessing and a bane--you feel free to express yourself because you're not face to face with someone, but it also means that sometimes there's no filter on the crap that gets spewed around. So, I apologize if anything I say offends anyone--like the title of my blog says, this is just "One Mom's Thoughts", and you can take them and ruminate upon them, or you can just say "she's so full of it!" and move on. So, that's that!

Anyway, I was thinking of some memory I had of childhood this morning, and it reminded me of lots of rather photographic memories I have from even before 5 years old. I know some people have a hard time remembering what happened last week, but for some reason I have a very clear memory when it comes to events from the past (for better or worse I guess) and it's almost like replaying a video in my head. This did come in quite handy in college, as I could often remember exactly where a bit of information was on the page in my textbook or notes, so recalling facts was pretty easy for me. Being a mom has made that type of memory a bit more scattered, I definitely find myself saying "Now, what was I going to do just now?" while my baby is trying to pull out a plug, my toddler is saying "I've got a boogie!" and my 6 year old is pretending to be a white dog named Snowflake and barking at my feet. But, I digress. I thought I'd put down in writing some of the more clear memories from my childhood. Don't know why, maybe they offer some insight into who I am as an adult, maybe they're just funny.

I remember one night, it must have been summer because my window was open, and it was before I was 5 because it was in our first house. I stood on my bed, looking out the window as a firetruck was pulled up in front of our house, and all our neighbors were milling around on our lawn. Our one neighbor, who's name I can't remember right now, came over to my window and said "It's ok, honey, just go back to sleep." Apparently, my dad was at work late and some teenage kids threw a flaming bag of poop at our door, and my mom called the cops and firefighters. Nice.

I also remember this summer day--I was out in the front yard, inspecting the bushes or something, it was a clear, blue sky, it was hot and the only sound was that summer insect buzzing sound, combined with the drone of an airplane somewhere. I remember thinking "This is the day it was." I don't know what that meant or means, but every once in a while on a summer day I will get the EXACT same feeling as I had that day when I was like 3 or 4 and that same phrase runs through my head. It is very weird.

One of my favorite things to make with my mom was fudgsicles out of Nestle Quik and condensed milk, pouring them into Dixie cups with a popsicle stick. They were SO good.

One time my parents were supposed to go out and they had this boy babysitter come. He had stringy, long-ish hair, was wearing a black t-shirt of some rock band, and had a broken arm in a cast. I don't know who the heck he was or why on earth they thought he should babysit my sister and I, but I hid in the spot between the refrigerator and the wall, screaming, and I wouldn't come out, so boy babysitter went home and mom and dad did not go out. I just remember being scared to death of this kid. He was probably perfectly fine.

I was TERRIFIED of KISS. (The band) I had nightmares about Gene Simmons and his bloody tongue.

I can remember 3 hurricanes that affected us even in non-coastal New Hampshire. I remember the alerts on the news, I remember my parents putting masking tape X's on our bay windows, and each time I had really weird dreams, and get this--the entire dream was in black, with the people and things outlined in a different neon color. Very weird.

I remember when Jimmy Carter came to Nashua when he was campaigning for President. I was waiting and waiting all day for him to show up at our door. I was playing with our Holiday Inn Hotel playset (check on ebay for these, they were so cool) sitting by the door, and he never came. I was very offended.

My aunt and uncle tried to take me to this Strawberry Festival in Hollis, without Mom and Dad. There was a thunderstorm. I freaked out and no amount of ice cream or strawberry shortcake would placate me, I just wanted to go home!

I also remember going to the drive in theater to see The Jungle Book. As the sun was setting, there was this huge, black, ominous cloud that I thought looked like a big whale ready to bite something. Sure enough, there was a thunderstorm, which made me freak out and hide under the back seat until we went home.

I remember our orange Datsun and the vinyl seats and the little x's it would leave imprinted on our legs in the summer.

Our one neighbor and his wife (the same one from the flaming poop story) didn't have any kids, which was so fascinating to me, but also meant that going to their house was pretty boring. But they did have this big mermaid thing in their basement, you know, one of those things that goes on the front of a ship ( I can't remember what they are called!). But I thought that wooden mermaid, hanging there above the stairs, was one of the coolest things I had ever seen as a 4 year old kid. I could have stared at it for hours.

Sometimes, when I'm having a tough time falling asleep, I will think about my first bedroom, I can picture the way the light would shine in through the shades as the sun was coming through the trees outside my window, it's one of my favorite peaceful place memories.

Ok, well, I could go on and on, but most people probably are not interested in my photographic memories, and they're much more interesting and meaningful to me I suppose. Anyway, maybe this will get you, reader, to think about your own funny memories and isn't that supposed to be good for our brains or something? Whatever--happy remembering! (Or forgetting, I suppose some of us would just rather forget it all!)