Memories

On a roadtrip once with an old room mate, I remember playing one of those games where you ask each other questions and I got the question "Describe your childhood in three words". My three words were "Memories are Mixed." Here are a few of the things I remember about my childhood:

I remember lots of time at the snow pile, making the best forts and creating some great sled hills. We'd play so long our legs would be so cold -- even with snow pants on. Our house was the closest so all our friends would come home with us and stand in front of the fire that was ever-present at our house and warm up and have a snack of some sort.

I remember all sorts of games of tag and hide & go seek with all sorts of neighborhood kids for what seemed like hours on end. We found the best places to hide! We had a one-block radius to hide in and boy could we hide!

I remember our play house out back -- with a deck & everything! My sister , brother & I spent a lot of time out there, arguing I'm sure. My sister is 5-years younger than me and of course, back then she was such a pest. =)

I remember lots of camping trips with the family. I don't fish. My time on the family boat (which I was required to go on rather than stay at the camper...) was spent laying out and complaining asking "Are we having fun yet?" Obviously, because I had been told "You're going to go and you're going to have fun!" When I think back to those trips I inwardly smile a little, but for those of you reading this that actually know me, you know I am not a camper and even as a child I was not a camper, and especially as a pre-pubescent punk, was not a camper .... some things never change. In reality I was probably much more verbal about it back then than I would be today -- sorry mom & dad! =) I did all I could to be unpleasant all weekend; from the Dr. Scholl's clogs I wore on our lovely hikes (which I would enjoy today - the hikes, not the Dr. Scholls) to the constant verbal abuse and eye-rolling at every little detail. In my defense regarding the clogs, I was only 12 and someone could have told me ahead of time (like, before we left home - that we were going to hike) besides, uh, a girl needs to look good, right? And at 12, I must have thought that Dr. Scholls would assist with that. Don't laugh. It was 1984. They were popular. And anyways, they're making a comeback. I saw them in the shoe department at Macy's last week. And Walmart.
- Okay, so the point of this? I smile, not because I was such a punk, trying to make everyone miserable, but it did create a lot of memories. Like the time (I'll probably get half of this wrong...feel free to comment and edit the story mom...) my parents took us to the other side of the lake (Lake Merit in Northern, Nebraska....HUGE) and ran out of gas and we had to walk back to the camp site through this prairie dog land...literally, every couple inches a prairie dog hole. I was scared to death. I don't remember, but yeah, I probably had my clogs on. =)