Happy Birthday to mom!

I think it was about 3 years ago when my mom told me that the only thing she wanted for Christmas was for me to write down some of my childhood memories and send them to her. So I said ok, and I started the document, and I never finished it. Since then, my computer has crashed twice, and now I have a completely different computer, so I've got to start from scratch. And since I'm having a hard time sleeping, I decided to go ahead and work on it now. Happy birthday mom!

My early memories of living in Washington are probably completely inaccurate, but here are a few things I remember. There was a rope swing on a big tree, and my brothers had put a yellow inflatable raft beneath the swing and filled it with water so you could swing and then jump off the swing into the water. I thought that looked like a lot of fun, but I'm assuming I was too small to participate (which will probably be a recurring theme throughout this post). Another Washington memory I have is sitting on the steps leading to the house, which I think were painted concrete, and looking at a small snake that my brothers had caught and put in a jar on the porch. I really liked that snake. I also remember my brothers hiding in some sort of shed or barn with one of those huge wooden spools blocking the doorway. They had a package of cookies with rainbow chips and they wouldn't share with me. Again, the accuracy of these memories is probably pretty bad, but this is how I remember it. And my earliest dream I can remember was in Washington as well. In the dream, I was at a neighbor's house and they had a circular stairwell, and I was trying to get to a toy at the top of the stairwell, but no matter how hard I tried, the toy was always just out of reach. I also remember spitting out grape flavored gum into the sink, and being grossed out when my mom and dad kissed in the kitchen.

I vaguely remember moving to Idaho. I'm pretty sure it was during the move that I fell asleep in the car, but once we stopped, I woke up. But I pretended like I was still asleep so that mom, or whoever was traveling with us would carry me inside. The other thing I remember about the move is looking outside and seeing a Fred Meyer on a hill. Don't ask me why I remember that.

Shortly after the move, mom set up a sleepover with me and Missy... I can't remember her last name now. Missy, as in Jenette's old roomate. Anyway, I didn't know her at all, and she didn't know me. It was a little awkward, but they had kittens, so that was good. Needless to say, Missy and I did not become friends. She was a year older than me, and that's a pretty big deal in grade school.

One of my first grade school memories was being made fun of by Clint Soderquist's older brother because I had dressed myself and apparently had put my pants on backwards. I believe I was in kindergarten at the time. I didn't know they were on backwards until he started pointing and laughing and taunting me. Those Soderquist boys could be really cruel.

I think one of my favorite things to do when I was small was go visit the ranch where mom grew up. I was infatuated with the old tractors. I always wanted to climb up on them and pretend like I was driving them. I really liked the carpet in the house that had all the different colored squares. And I liked the little attic room that was really hard to get into. There was just something very eerie and compelling about that house, and I loved it. I also enjoyed fishing and catching rainbow trout. One of the trout we caught had a bunch of eggs in it, which someone (maybe Aunt Cerese) showed to me when they were gutting it. And I was convinced that a group of wild horses tried to run me down and I narrowly escaped with my life by jumping in the back of Grandpa's pickup. Now that I think back on it, I was probably blowing the situation out of proportion.

And speaking of Grandpa's truck, who can forget sledding behind the truck?? It was so much fun, but it would have been a lot better with goggles because I would end up blinking so much because there was constant snow flying in my face that all I could see were the two colors black and blue. If you blink really hard and really fast out in the snow, you'll see what I mean.

Another thing I remember is Jaron and Tyson's mud pit. Oh how I envied the mud pit. I wanted to play in that thing so bad, but they never would let me. I don't remember if it was because I was a girl or too young or what, but I never got to play in the mud pit. I did, however, make some pretty fantastic mud pies on top of the big green electrical box in the back yard.

Here's a backyard memory that I'm not very proud of. Our neighbors were probably a little bit white trash type, now that I think back on them. Well, I have always been very territorial, and one day, they put a blanket out to dry on the fence that we shared. And it wasn't just any blanket. It was a New Kids on the Block blanket. I had been trained by my other brothers, and I knew that New Kids on the Block were terrible (despite the fact that I'd never heard their music). So, couple the hate of New Kids with my territorial instinct (they put their blanket on my fence), along with my good friend egging me on, I decided to use the hose and spray water all over the blanket. I believe it was Jaron who caught me and my friend in the act and made us go next door and apologize. Of course, when I apologized, I told them I accidentaly sprayed the blanket. Not my finest moment.

One winter, I decided I'd make a little cash, so I went across the street and shoveled the neighbor's driveway. I did a really good job. Then I knocked on their door and asked to be paid. When I told my mom about it afterwards, she told me to give the money back. That was how I learned that you need to offer your services first instead of just doing the job and demanding money. Lesson learned.

During the summer, I really enjoyed sitting in the Russian Olive tree that was in our front yard. For a little while, I had a piece of plywood sitting atop a couple of branches, which served as my tree house. I wanted a tree house for the longest time, but that board was the closest thing I had. And I must say, it worked pretty well. I used to sit up in the tree with my buddy Tractor, the big stuffed animal polar bear, and we'd peel bark off the tree and disassemble the flowering parts of the tree. Good times.

I honestly thought that my stuffed animals were alive and would talk to eachother and run around my bedroom while I was out. I think I got that idea from one of my favorite books about a teddy bear in an attic. Speaking of favorite books, one of my most favorite things ever was story time with mom. Tyson and I would sit next to mom on her big bed, and we'd make her read Bernstein Bears and whatever else we had lying around for probably as long as she could stand it. It's because of those memories that I try to read to Chloe, even when I'm not in the mood, because I remember how much I loved reading time with my mom. I love you mom! You are the best mom ever! Happy birthday.