I hope that you have many favorite childhood memories that bring joy to your life. I’m sincere about this because everyone deserves to have a happy, safe childhood. But, unfortunately, not everyone has a favorite childhood memory. Instead, they have horrific memories that to them were normal life.
I know a girl that grew up with her mother and two sisters. Their father was out of the picture. The sisters had very few memories of seeing him. However, they have many memories of their mom, including when the child support eligibility ran out and their mom kicked them out of the house. Their worth to their mother disappeared with the child support.
Their mom allowed them to use drugs as long as they did it in their house so that they wouldn’t get caught. Then, when their mom worked at night and didn’t have a sitter, she would take the girls along to the bar and leave them in the car, with $5 to go to the liquor store and buy candy. I hope that isn’t anything remotely like your childhood. I hope you have many favorite childhood memories like I do.
So many favorite childhood memories
On the other side of the spectrum, I grew up with two sisters, and we lived with our loving parents. We had uncles and aunts and cousins that also loved us. Drugs weren’t a part of our childhood. Our mom stayed at home with us while our father worked. Once we were all in school, our mom went to college and learned bookkeeping. Once we were older, she started working. After school, we got off the bus at her employer’s office, and she finished up and brought us home.
We colored in our coloring books in the hallway by the floor heater register and watched Felix the Cat on a black and white television. Our best times, though, were out in the backyard. Climbing trees and playing make-believe. And that is where my favorite childhood memory, that I want to share, took place, outside in the area beyond the garage.
The back yard
We three girls shared a bedroom until I was in fourth grade. We spent more time outside than inside. There were four Magnolia trees along our driveway that were perfect for climbing. The driveway led to a two-car garage and laundry room. The garage was not for parking cars, but a place for my dad to repair wrecked cars. It was almost like homework that he brought home from his business down the street. He was the owner, so I guess he could take some of his work home. However, I think the work he did at home was more of his specialty, custom car alterations, than your standard repair.
Behind the garage
Our mom had her clothesline behind the garage. And we three girls had our space to play in the dirt and mud. My dad stored the left front fender section of an old white Thunderbird in that area, too. However, when it came down to it, the fender section belonged to us girls. It was our oven.
We dug tunnels in the dirt. We had a collection of plastic figures which we moved throughout the tunnels. I think they were the green Army guys. And we mixed water and dirt to make cookies and other items. Our most sought-after cookies were the ones that included the red seeds from our Magnolia trees. They were much more appetizing than the plain mud and water cookies.
Uncle Art
My mom had three brothers: one older and two younger. The one in the middle is the one always willing to take part in our make-believe world. He was single, and eventually, after he married, he and his wife were great friends of my parents. And he loved the Magnolia seed cookies. In fact, every time he visited, he ate at least one. We were in awe of Uncle Art.
Did I mention that Uncle Art was really tall? Especially when you are under ten years old. He was way up there. He always came out to the yard section beyond the garage to see what we girls were up to. We usually had a fresh batch of cookies waiting for him. He took a few cookies gratefully. Uncle Art loved our cookies. He told us stories and jokes as he ate the cookies. We listened carefully. It took us a while to learn that while he was distracting us; he threw the cookies over the fence into the vacant lot next door. We still loved him.
Do you have memories like this of your childhood? Maybe it was going swimming at your grandparent’s house. Or having Christmas dinner with all the family gathered around ping pong tables so that everyone could fit in. Or getting a new Golden Book each time you went with your mom to Market Basket. Maybe learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. Reading Archie comic books. I have so many special memories. I’m feeling very nostalgic, and I’d like to hear your stories. Please share some of your favorite childhood memories in the reply section below. I can’t wait to hear what you remember best!
