Childhood Memories
TV ClubHouse: Archive: Childhood Memories
Car54 | Wednesday, October 16, 2002 - 07:45 pm     Zmom, I could not get into Ken...he had that weird flocky hair. |
Suitsmefine | Wednesday, October 16, 2002 - 07:48 pm     Oh, Zmom....Barbie was so lucky.....especially, when Ken came out with facial hair!!! I never wanted Ken, I just used my brothers G.I.Joes ...until Ken grew that oh so sexy beard and tache, then I had to have one!! |
Zachsmom | Wednesday, October 16, 2002 - 08:09 pm     But GI Joe had the Kung Fu Grip!!! I used to steal my brothers 6 million dollar man doll and boy did Steve & Ken get into it! Steve even kicked Joes butt!!! |
Hippyt | Wednesday, October 16, 2002 - 08:15 pm     This is a great thread. It should be a book! My favorite childhood memory is from Sunday. When I was young on Sundays after church we would always get in the car and go to my Granma's house.She lived 30 minutes away,on the way we would stop and pick up hamburgers and milkshakes for lunch. Grandma and Grandpa lived way out in the country on a watermelon farm. My twin cousins lived down the road. My other two cousins were always there too. The adults would sit on the porch,or in the house and chat. The kids would have hay fights in the barn. We sometimes brought all our bikes to ride,or we would play ball. Grandpa always had gum and candy for everyone. Every once in awhile we'd see a snake,or Grandpa would crank up the tractor and take us for a ride. Us five kids ruled the world in our play,every Sunday was an adventure.When the watermelons were ripe,Grandpa would take us in the field early,and we'd get a bunch,and put them under the porch to cool. In the evening,we'd all sit down in the dirt and eat watermelons til we were about to bust. My favorite memory of all of this was the ride home.Everyone was tired and quiet,the stars were amazing!I can remember the window being down,the wind,and the beautiful star-filled sky. |
Lancecrossfire | Wednesday, October 16, 2002 - 11:06 pm     These are all wonderful memories from everyone. I love how they all involve some of the more simple things in life--the location and the people, or the simple fun of a toy. It's great that what sticks with us most isn't what costs the most to do, or is the most complicated techno gadget. A doll, or friends/family, or an effort made by a loved one. Or maybe a special place to be with those we enjoyed. Thanks so much to all of you who shared your memories. |
Abbynormal | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 01:02 am     I had a great-aunt who was like a grandmother to me. I lived with her off and on for most of my childhood. One summer day all of the cousins were over at Ma's house. After a full day of playing it was decided that all the kids were going to get to go somewhere that evening. I don't even remember where now. I just remember that my cousin D and I didn't get to go because we were too young. This just crushed us because there was one younger than us, but I guess she got to go because she was a hell raiser. D and I were the quiet ones. As soon as the other's left, Ma asked us to help her get some wood from the woodpile. We wondered what in the world, since it was the middle of summer. That little woman built us 2 girls the best bonfire you've ever seen. We roasted wienies and for dessert, marshmallows. We sat around that fire all evening. D and I still talk about how special Ma made us feel that night. I doubt she was setting out to make a lifetime memory for 2 little girls, but she sure did. I think we both knew even then, we got the good end of that deal. I'm still very close with my cousin and we feel so lucky to not only be able to share that special time with our Ma but with each other. |
Marysafan | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 08:33 am     My favorite childhood memory is the one night I had my Dad all to myself. I was about 10 that summer when we were on a family camping trip. I was the oldest of four, and being the oldest girl...that meant I had to help mom a lot and watch the kids. Fathers in the 1950's had a role. They were the breadwinners, and they raised their sons...daughters were left to mom. But this one night...every one else was asleep in the tent, but Dad and I weren't sleepy. So we sat by the fire and talked for awhile...then he got hungry so he buried a couple of potatoes in the warm ashes of the fire, and we went for a walk in the woods with only the moon, the stars and a flashlight to guide us. I don't remember what we talked about...only that we did. When we returned to the campsite, we could see the outline of my sisters face pressed against the tent...and laying against it....was a skunk! We tiptoed quietly away and waited from a safe distance until the skunk departed. Then we went back and ate our potatoes. To this day...those were the best baked potatoes I have ever had in my life! So now...all these years later...my Dad and I have this special memory...that only we share...and from time to time...I will say.."Dad ...remember that night when we cooked potatoes in the fire?", and he will always answer "and came back to find the skunk!" |
Wiseolowl | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 08:53 am     This is a little different - but what about the smells of childhood - they say that the sense of smell evokes memories I grew upin southwestern Ontario where the climate is mild and walnut trees grow. They don't where I live now. On avisit back to my hometown, we visited the park where as a child I collected walnuts - just like chestnuts - no value but there was always a contest to see who could collect the most Walnuts have a beautiful distinct aroma and smelling them again after all these yars reminded me of the time when my mother - seeing all of these walnuts got the bright idea to shell them (they have a pulpy outer casing)dry them and roast them . To that end she shelled them in the basement washtub however on finishing she had a dark walnut stain on her hands extending wellpast her wrists. She tried everything to get the stain out to no avail. For the next month she wore gloves everywhere she went - although in those days it was not uncommon for ladies to wear gloves even to go shopping It caused a lot of joking and humour in the family which I had forgotten until I smelled those wonderful walnuts after all those 40m years ago. And what about burning leaves . We can't burn fall leaves now for fire and environmental reasons but when I pass by a farmer's field where they still do it the aroma brings back the memories of childhood when the kids especially would get huge bonfires going to the constant aggravation of parents. But the beautiful aroma permeated the whole town . |
Pamy | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 09:35 am     I always had tons of Barbies(and her friends)and only 1 Ken and 1 GI Joe, they were some happy boys! |
Djgirl5235 | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 10:17 am     These stories are bringing tears to my eyes, and soooo many memories flooding into my brain!!! I grew up in a small village about an hour and a half east of Toronto. Our house was on a farm, but we didn't own the farm, and only rented the house. It was really just my brother and I since we weren't anywhere close to "town" and all of our friends lived in the village so we really only had each other to play with. On the really cold winter days, he & I would get all bundled up, take our skates and hike through the snow into our garden, which collected water throughout the fall and would freeze over - our very own skating rink. We would spend hours out there! One winter, and I know I'm not the only one who won't ever forget this - my dad got very energetic, and built us an ice slide that went all over the back yard. He spent weeks building this with the snow, then watering it at night and letting it freeze over - it was the best!!! It started at the top of the garage and spun all around the back yard (which was almost 1/2 an acre)... I was the envy of all of my friends!!! My brother and I would spend other afternoons playing to our records - all songs from the 50's, since that was my mom's favourite at the time - and he would either play air guitar, or air drums, and dance around lipsynching to Johnny Be Good; Rockin' Robin; Great Balls of Fire... Great Balls of Fire was the best one, because we had one of those dusky coloured record player covers that wasn't attached, so he would take it off the player and pound away on it as if it were his piano. I still laugh my butt off at just the thought of it!!! I have SOOOO many good memories of my childhood - mainly because we had to be creative and inventive to amuse ourselves - TV was NOT allowed until it was family time and that was one hour a night unless it was hockey night. Oh... dolls - I didn't really have any brand name ones, but the year that Cabbage Patch dolls were the absolute hit, my mom wasn't working, and only my dad was making money, so we couldn't afford to buy me one, but Christmas morning, there was a handmade one, that was even prettier than the ones in the store that my mom had made for me. Another time at Christmas, and I don't remember this, but my mom has told me the story a few times, and every time it brings tears to my eyes... My mom is one of 9 children, and the "poorest" of the whole bunch. Well, one Christmas - I was about 4 and my brother 2, my parents had just moved, and my dad had just started a new job so money was REALLY tight. One of my uncles went out and bought all these toys for my brother and I and my grandfather put them under the tree for us without my mom knowing. My uncle had signed them all from Santa, but she knew his writing. He denied it to the day that he died, but his wife (my mom's sister) finally admitted that they'd done it - they didn't think that we should have to go without... Okay, I'm going to stop now because I could literally go on forever!!! |
Carolinakisses | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 10:42 am     I have many childhood memories; they always seem to include my Grandma. No matter what bouquet of flowers (which happened to be weeds) I brought into the house for her, she proudly displayed them on the dining room table. |
Wiseolowl | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 11:35 am     DjGirl Your story reminded me of a few things and the fact that there is a difference in our ages. My kids are now in their twenties and had the same almost fanatic desire for a Cabbidge Patch doll - no doubt fueled by media advertizing. In any event I recall driving 60 miles to the Madoc Stedmans Store to get them- we had the means to do so after calling far and wide to find them at long distance rates - probably the worst endulgence we ever did for our kids. The other thing you mentioned is the uncle story -but mine is the reverse . When I was 8 or 9 years old - some 45 years ago I desperately wanted an electric train . The Sears and Eatons catelogues had so many to choose from. At the same time my uncle had three kids and times were tough. My parents gave him $25.00 I found out later to buy toys for the kids. That was a princely sum back in those days. Bottom line is, that year I got a used, no- name brand electric train and my cousin got the fancy catelogue one. I was too young to know the difference - just know thatI was thrilled to hear that used train going around the tracks that morning when I woke up. I still remember that sound 45 years later. My parents got over it - they were understandably a litle annnoyed that they sacrificed the new train for me, while my uncle squandered the money on one gift for one child. But after all these years my second hand train survived and is now considered a collector's item!! |
Djgirl5235 | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 11:58 am     Owl - you know, a lot of it I think has to do with where we grew up, because I know where the Madoc Stedmans store is as I've driven through there tonnes of times on my way to different cottages, as well as Quin-Mo-Lac camp... Where about did you grow up? |
Curiouscat | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 12:47 pm     When my brother and I were little my parents would bring us into town on the weekend sometimes to sleepover at one of our grandparents' homes (so Mom and Dad could have some alone time One Sunday afternoon in December my parents and I (age 7) went to pick up my four year old brother who stayed at my grandparents for the weekend. My grandma was in a tizzy - "Look what Philip did!!!" Practically every room in their two-storey house dear brother drew in green crayon Christmas trees on the wall ... he had just learned how to draw them in Junior Kindergarten class. Grandma claimed she was on the phone when the deed was done (Lord knows she talks forever when she's on the phone) but Phil said she was sleeping in the recliner where he drew a tree right behind it. At that age we loved seeing each other get in trouble and this was a hoot to me  |
Marysafan | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 12:58 pm     Okay..how about a funny one... When I was a senior high school, my sister who I shared a bedroom with was a freshman. She had a 10:00 curfew, and mine was at mid-night. The problem was mom and Dad were awake at 10:00 so if she was late...she got caught, but mom and Dad were sound asleep by midnight...so if I was late ...no one ever knew! Well, little sis found this double standard hard to swallow, so one night she hatched a plan that was sure to get me in trouble. I came home at 12:15 one night, walked into our bedroom, turned on the light to discover my little sis...laying in an awkward position up side down on her bed...covered with blood! Her mouth was open...her eyes glazed...and there was blood everywhere ...all over her face and arms...needless to say... I SCREAMED bloody murder...and woke up everybody in the house! Mom and Dad came running in...at which point little sis sits up and says..."SEE It's after midnight and she just got home!" The blood of course was well placed ketch-up and there was not a thing wrong. Mom and Dad didn't appreciate being woken up in such a manner...and guess what...little sis was the one that got in trouble, not me! We still laugh like crazy whenever we remember that night. |
Djgirl5235 | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 01:25 pm     Oh - you had to stir up another one - and you have to read the entire story to get the gist of it!!! There was one night that we were all sitting around the kitchen table having dinner. Halfway through the dinner, my brother, who was about 6 at the time, turns to my father, and looking very seriously at him, says "Dad, what's rape?" Well... my dad just looks a little flabbergasted, but sucks it up, turns to my brother, and quite seriously goes into what would normally be a long drawn out conversation on rape, and psychology, etc., but about 5 minutes into the conversation, my brother's eyes are going wider, and wider, and wider (as were my own), and he looks at my dad and says "Dad! I don't know what you're talking about, because rape is grape without the "G"!" My mom & myself actually peed our pants we were laughing so hard, and the look on my dad's face was absolutely priceless!!!! |
Marysafan | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 01:28 pm     Oh......my....gosh! Your poor DAd! |
Wiseolowl | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 03:04 pm     DjGirl I grew up in a small town near Windsor but moved to outside of Coburg then Trenton when our kids were growing up - that's when Madoc came into the picture. Ironically we've moved again to the Haliburton Lakes where our summer cottage has become a permanent home. |
Sia | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 03:33 pm     I remember my Dad yanking me up out of the bathtub by the wrist, dripping wet, and stinging my legs and behind with a switch off a tree for running away from home for refusing to eat a tomao with the skin still on it. I spent the day skulking about my Dad's sister's back yard instead of going home; she wasn't at home, and I spent a miserable day in her yard. |
Whit4you | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 03:47 pm     I remember after being adopted at 8 1/2 having to pretend to believe in Santa Claus!!! I had a adopted brother 11 months older then me and he still believed in Santa... it was really tough on me to pretend to believe in Santa and I had to do this for several years... till FINALLY my brother admitted to me when he was like 12!!! that he didn't believe in Santa and just didn't know how to tell mom and dad... lol. Oh this reminds me of one of the funniest moments ever of my own son's childhood.... He believed in Santa and the tooth fairy and the easter bunny and all that right??? Ok the lady downstairs, my best friend ever - gawd I miss her... anyhow she had a son who was a year older then my son... and he told my son when my son was about 6 that the easter bunny wasn't real... on Easter. He had my son peek out the window to see his mom, Stephanie - putting out the easter eggs. My son runs up to me and says... mom mom mom.... guess what!!!! Stephanie is the easter bunny!!!!! (He thought she was THE easter bunny!!! lol) I swear none of us could stop laughing the rest of the day and my poor son... he was so proud of himself for having figured out all on his own that Stephanie was THE easter bunny. |
Wiseolowl | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 03:57 pm     Whit : I learned a long time ago about Santa - but are you saying there's no Easter Bunny? Is this some kind of a spoiler? I guess your sister is a very busy lady. Then again being a guy I thought up till now that the Easter Bunny was a male. |
Sia | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 04:00 pm     I remember my dad asking my sister if she'd heard a banging noise in the night on Easter-eve. She said she had, and he told her he'd found a large rabbit prowling through the house and that he'd grabbed the offender by the ears and had given him a sound thumping against the walls before throwing him out onto the front lawn. Sis was four or five at the time and became hysterical with grief before her Easter basket was brought out of hiding. |
Car54 | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 04:39 pm     LOL Whit! I was a tough cookie...in our neighborhood, we had one Dad who had his own Santa costume, and he would play Santa for the whole neighborhood...our moms would leave a present in the mailbox, and before bedtime, the doorbell would ring (50's tract houses...no chimneys!) and Santa would come visit! I ALWAYS nailed him...His own kids didn't recognize him, and every single time, I would yell out "Hey Mr. Morcas! Come on in!" I think I ruined his Christmas eve every year! |
Suitsmefine | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 05:04 pm     That reminds me of the time when I was about 11 and two of my cousins were discussing where babies come from....they said babies were hatched from eggs,LOL!!! Anyhow growing up on a farm I'd seen entirely TOO many things being born to know that wasn't right (I didn't know EXACTLY where we came from, I just knew I didn't come from an egg!!! They went running to their Mom's and told what I'd said....I got into trouble for scaring the little kids with my horror stories of animal births!!!! I still get a kick out of walking up to them and saying " BAK-BAK" !!! They get so mad!!! |
Djgirl5235 | Friday, October 18, 2002 - 06:35 am     Wiseolowl - That explains it - I grew up in Grafton (just east of Cobourg) for most of my childhood, then into Cobourg for the last of my highschool years. My mom & her husband moved back to Grafton just after I moved out of the house - how ironic!!! Most people haven't heard of Cobourg, let alone Trenton!!! My fiance & I have a cottage on Little Kinesis lake & just bought a house in Markham... I wonder what memories our children will have when they're my age!!! |
Abbynormal | Friday, October 18, 2002 - 01:15 pm     I had a step-father who was the meanest S.O.B. who ever took a breath. My hair was long enough to sit on and he took me to the barber shop while my mom was at work and got me a boy's haircut. He came home drunk one night and went to grab me and I pushed him off the front porch and he broke his leg. It was great!! He had a cast from toe to hip and was laid up all summer. This is one of my fondest memories! |
Curiouscat | Friday, October 18, 2002 - 04:35 pm     Does anyone dream of their childhood memories? I still dream of both my grandparents' homes and my childhood friends. It feels so haunting since three of my four grandparents have been gone for years and I haven't stepped foot in those homes for at least 15 to 20 years. It's so stange my old friends from elementary school are still in my subconscious after all this time not ever seeing them again. |
Whit4you | Friday, October 18, 2002 - 05:04 pm     Curious, yup alot of people from my youth are in my dreams still... what's funny is some of them I really didn't know then 25 years ago but now they are in my dreams often lol. |
Hippyt | Friday, October 18, 2002 - 07:18 pm     I do that too,I always dream of this one girl. She wasn't really a close friend of mine,and once a year or so she'll show up in a dream.Weird. |
Car54 | Friday, October 18, 2002 - 10:11 pm     I dream about the times when I was 4 or 5...that was a pivotal time in my childhood...I dream about my parents, our neighborhood, my little friends...my grandpa...everything. Of course, I had a recurring dream (not a good one) for over 35 years. I had it about 2 or 3 times a month...scared the crap out of me every time...and I grew up in the dream..it started when I was about 2 or 3...and went on til I was about 38 years old. In the dream, I was the age I really was. Very strange. |
Whit4you | Friday, October 18, 2002 - 10:28 pm     Well I thought I was dreaming... from about 8 to 12? 15? 20? Not sure when I ever truely convinced myself that I wasn't dreaming and wouldn't wake up... lol. I now know that I'm not dreaming.... that I am sure of. But for many years - I thought I was dreaming and I'd someday wake up... Anytime I'd doubt that I was dreaming.. I'd recall previous dreams and how they seemed to last for months or years... then I'd think about the fact I thought that I was dreaming IN my dreams.... At any rate for many years I seriously thought that I was dreaming everything that transpired and that I'd someday wake up.... Perhaps the wizard of oz had something to do with that? <--blonde soooooo????? |
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