Sunday 20 January 2013

10 Memories From Childhood






There are so many great things about the technological era we are living in, and one of them is the photos we take and share. Our youngsters will be able to look back at themselves when they were growing up and, hopefully, have some good memories. When Terri mentioned having read and enjoyed the memories posted by one of her contacts, I thought that sounded like a good enough blog to share with everyone. The problem in my case is at this moment I don't know where I've put my old photos or the CD that they're on. I used to do this with my bank books until I decided if I couldn't find them, probably someone with bad intentions couldn't either. I'm always insisting that I put things in the same place too, so now I can't even claim this! Anyway, I've decided to post my childhood memories with this one photo that one of my cousins posted on facebook. This is my mom with me and Aunt Sally and cousin Billy.


  1. One of my earliest memories I have is when I was about two. I'm standing in the garden crying because my grandma has left. My mother used to have to distract me so my grandma could leave.
  2.  For a time my paternal grandfather lived with us. I'm sorry to say he never cared for us and the feeling was mutual. One evening my mother asked him to look after me while she did some chores outside. Of course, he was probably listening to the radio, because we didn't get a TV until I was about 5 and not paying attention to what I was doing. I was having a grand time throwing the baby chicks that were in a box on the porch outside and the dog was catching and eating them. I don't know how many baby chicks were eaten by the time my mom returned. I don't think she ever left me with him again. Poor baby chicks!
  3. I remember this house in the photo of me as a baby. One day my two cousins, brother and I were outside playing when a dog that obviously had rabies came along. Luckily my aunt or somebody got us inside quickly. After that every strange dog, even puppies, were rabid to me 
  4. I come from a large family. My younger brothers and sisters are lucky that they didn't have to change schools as often as my brother Roger and I. My first year at school that I began with my cousin Billy found me changing school in the middle of the year.We kept moving my first five years of schooling.
  5. As much as I loved learning (I started reading my first day of school and haven't stopped), it was tiring going to school every day. Once my brother and I decided if we 'lost' our lunch money, we'd have a week off school as lunches were paid weekly. We hid the money under some leaves where we thought later to 'find' it and buy lots of hot balls with it. Wouldn't you know we had to go to school anyway and a cousin found the money!
  6. It seems to me, kids nowadays just don't have the imagination that we had. One winter when we were staying with my grandmother, we flew home after school instead of playing in the snow as we usually did. We'd seen big barefoot tracks and were convinced they were from a Yeti or at least a big bear. It turns out they were from one of my mom's cousins who was a bit touched in the head (I don't think people smoked dope in those days).
  7. I may not like the fashion worn by young people today, but I recognize that they're following fashion and wearing what other young people are wearing. I wore mini skirts in the winter at university even though it was freezing outside and platform shoes until I fell off them three times and a girdle even though I didn't need one in high school, because these things were what my friends wore. In high school, of course, we had a dress code and some boys got sent to the principal's office to have the length of their hair measured or the girls their skirts. Even though most schools still have some rules about what students can't wear, at least girls can wear trousers and jeans. We couldn't, which was one of the perks of university.
  8. In high school I got into the Upward Bound program, and that and the fact that I won a full scholarship helped me get into university. There was an article written about the program in the Reader's Digest and I was interviewed for it.
  9. I was at university during the Vietnam War. There were many demonstrations during those years and a vast majority of them turned violent since there's almost always a violent faction that goes to demontrations with violence in mind. I remember cowering in my dorm room during those demonstrations. However, throughout all of my years at university (where I stayed on to do a Master's) and my schools before that, I had never been frightened of being shot down in a classroom or a mall. Who can say this today?
  10. If anyone has read my introduction on multiply, which is still there, you'll remember it's my university Spanish professor's fault that I live in Spain. She said people from Kentucky never wanted to leave Kentucky. So here you have me!   

8 comments:

  1. Brenda, I so enjoyed learning about you, and your family. #7 made me think about dress codes at my school. We also had pretty strict codes about the length of skirts, boys' hair, and we couldn't wear slacks unless it was 20 degrees or below, and then it had to be a matching pantsuit. We could not wear jeans or shorts, even to after school activities. I agree with you about #6, too. Kids today just don't have the imagination that our generation did. It's kind of sad. Thanks for posting!! (You must do another one of these when you find your photos!)

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  2. Oh no! The baby chicks!!!! Poor things.

    Why did you move so often when you were young? My dad was in the air force, but we only seemed to move every 3 or 4 years. I had a friend whose dad was a dentist in the air force and there was one summer they moved so often she couldn't even list all the places. In one summer! I don't really get why the military moves people around so much.

    I loved rambling through your memory lane. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. My dad was a farmer and we didn't own the farms where we lived. However, by the time I was in the 5th grade, we lived in the same county so I didn't have to change schools. Most of my brothers and sisters still live there. Perhaps my Spanish professor was right.

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  3. Oh my! You sure had a few adventures when you were younger. lol We were lucky to live in a kinder gentler time, weren't we? Hope you are having a good week. ((hugs))

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  4. This was so fun reading! #2 - I am so sorry that your grandfather didn't watch you closely and you have this bad memory! #4 - I can't imagine having to change schools so frequently had to be hard on you. #5 - I had to laugh at this one! #10 - Do you ever think you will move back to the States? One of these days I would love to travel outside of America! Thanks so much for sharing your memories with us!

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    1. Sadly my dad's father was a bitter cold person. I'm not sure I'd be able to live in the US, but it's difficult to say never. I really prefer the lifestyle here.

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  5. Imagination and playing outdoors were a big part of my childhood growing up in Michigan. I guess there are some good and bad things about different generations. I remember never calling my friends or an adult by their first name alone. It was always Mrs. or Mr and neighbors actually got together more. Now I do enjoy however being able to connect and reconnect with people through the social part of internet and read and see photos of places I may or may not actually see. So you are actually from KY and now in Spain? Wow! I have a duaghter living in KY but I am so close to her because she lives close to the border of Indiana and I am way down south in Indiana. Nice blog and photo!

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  6. I've been so busy reorganizing my home; I forgot where I put my college credits. I finally found it in a binder hidden in a closet. I moved it again--I hope to find the binder again, especially if I need to find another job.

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