Things I remember: childhood

Here are some things I remember about growing up in my small Kansas hometown. It's not a comprehensive list, it's just things that I remember very well.

• My little house on Wood Street (2 bedrooms, 1 bath)
• Remodeling our little house into a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath
• Sweeping up the saw dust during the remodel: how it smelled, how the men were surprised the next day to see it cleaner
• Playing on my swing set and singing while swinging
• Playing with my sister and best friend outside: making mud pies, playing whiffle ball, playing in the snow and acting like it was a blizzard and we were Laura, Mary and Carrie Ingalls getting lost in the blizzard
• Being a member of the "congregation" as my sister preached to me from her "pulpit", which was my baby doll suitcase
• Being a cheerleader for my sister, the football player
• My dog, Snuggles (1/2 poodle, 1/2 schnauzer), whom I had from ages 2-15
• How Snuggles became blind and deaf the older she got
• All of my grade school teachers
• How our lunch ladies made the BEST hot rolls I've ever had
• The taste of our lunchroom pizza
• How nervous I would get about the first day of school
• How much I LOVED school
• How much I loved fried chicken
• How everyone knew your name in our small town
• How, even as a young child, my best friend and I could walk uptown by ourselves and have nothing to worry about (and neither did our parents)
• The sound of the wooden floors in our "dime" store and the smell of that store
• Looking at Smurf figurines at the Pharmacy, saving up money to collect as many as I could
• Spending the night at friends' houses; laughing a lot
• Going to our school carnival every year and coming home with "useless" treasures
• Playing "school" in my bedroom
• Playing "secretary" in my bedroom
• Thinking your small home is big
• Thinking your school is gigantic!
• Getting lost in TG&Y
• Eating at Pizza Hut with my family every Saturday before buying groceries
• Eating at Long John Silvers when we were tired of Pizza Hut
• Looking at Christmas lights every year with Granny, Grandad, mom and dad, especially Candy Cane Lane
• Going to the mall in Bartlesville, OK a lot and going to the mall in Tulsa, OK every year for new school clothes
  
• The sights and sounds of my hometown church
• The sights and sounds of my hometown library
• The feel of my grandparents' hugs
• Sitting on my mom's lap and listening to her heartbeat as she would read to me
• Getting new Easter dresses every year
• Helping decorate for Christmas every year
• Melting tinsel on the old fashioned large bulbs that got HOT!
• Buying new record albums and memorizing them ALL after listening to them through twice
• The sights and sounds of our city pool
• Going skating with our third grade class for the "end of the year" party
• The sound of my best friend, Cari's, voice
• The sound of Cari's mom's voice
• Skating on Cari's neighbor's driveway listening to "Footloose"
• Playing in the building behind our home, which at one time was an apartment, but we used it for storage and called it "The Little House"
• The smell of dad using a charcoal grill on Saturday nights in the summer on our patio
  
• Always feeling like I was older than I was
• Listening to Elvis records and belting the song out along with him
• Moving on to Barbara Mandrell and then Olivia Newton-John
• Loving to play with baby dolls and wearing as much jewelry as I could
• Trying to learn to ride a bike without training wheels and getting mad at the bike
• Watching my sister wreck her 3-speed bike on gravel and running home to tell mom and dad
• Being so happy to receive "Underoos" for Christmas
• Hating the physical fitness tests that we had to do every year at school
• Getting car sick any time we traveled
• Going to my Aunt and Uncle's after school
• Riding in my Aunt's station wagon with all of my cousins singing songs
• Going to the State Fair with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins
• Going trick-or-treating to houses of people we knew
• Playing board games all summer with my sister, some of them lasting for days
• Watching the Wizard of Oz once a year and being scared every time by the Wicked Witch
• Missing my teachers when we would be on break (I know, sick, aren't I? haha)
• Vacationing in Branson a LOT; once with my Granny and Grandad
• The smell of the asphalt in the summer at Silver Dollar City
• Listening to my mom hum or sing softly in the car
• Spraining my ankle at school during P.E. and spraining the other one on my way home from Cari's
• Watching smoke billow out from our grade school when it was set on fire
• All the kids squished inside the gymnasium or music room for classes after the fire
• The feeling enjoyment while playing on the scooters
• Getting scared when an old car with strange looking men stopped and one of the men started getting out while we were playing whiffle ball outside
• Pulling apart hundreds of rollie-polies
• Pulling apart a bee and getting the stinger in my thumb (I didn't know it could hurt me, I just thought it was pretty.)
• Falling asleep on my teeter-totter
• Learning to crochet
• Learning what "long distance" is the hard way :(
• Always playing "mommy"
• Admiring my neighbors beautiful maple trees in the fall
• Having school parties, especially Valentine's Day
• Eating hamloaf at Granny and Grandad's for Easter
• Eating mom's chili and my Aunt's potato soup on Christmas Eve at Grandad's
• Spending Christmas Day at Granny and Grandad's
• Going to the capitol building in 5th grade because I won a report-writing contest
  
• Listening to Grandad's stories
• Getting my tonsils out
• Swinging on the swingset at school and jumping off at the highest point
• Moving to Pittsburg for my 6th grade year
• Hating living in Pittsburg
• Moving back to hometown in 7th grade
• Sleeping in my sister's room when it was hot so we could share a fan
• Sunday School each Sunday
• Being in "Sword Drills"; practicing, competing and going to Salina for State Competition
• Going to Glorieta, NM to watch my friend compete in the nationals for sword drills
• Going to Arkansas for a family reunion
• Wondering which teacher I would have next year; excited for mom to come home and tell me after she pre-enrolled us
• Watching "Hee Haw" on Saturday nights
• Lining up "boy, girl, boy girl" or "BGBGBG" as one teacher called it
• My dad teaching me to wrap gifts; mom making me the official "gift wrapper" of the family (except my gifts)
• My Mickey Mouse night light, which I had a nightmare about one time while I was sick with fever
• My Crayola Caddy and hours I would spend using it
  
• Coloring with my sister
• Making my sister come home and play school with me when I was too young to go so I could know everything she learned
• April 1, 1979--Asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior
• My baptism--being scared I would drown and saying, "I want my daddy!"
• Being in children's choir at church: doing plays, singing, doing puppet shows, etc.
• Getting my Barbie kitchen from Granny and Grandad
• Getting a large double-sided chalkboard to play school from mom and dad
• Playing Pacman and Ms. Pacman at my friend's house
• Going to church camp "Virgil" which I did not like
• I liked going to the car wash with Dad because he would buy me a bottle (glass bottle) of Crush soda (orange, grape, strawberry)
• Getting mad at my sister when we played "Aggravation"
  
• Having a GREAT childhood