My dear friend Lindsay wrote a sweet blog entry the other day about her earliest memories. Although we have been friends for years, I had never heard some of her stories. I loved it, and commented, thinking I should do that same. For me, my friend, my readers, and posterity, of course. When we spoke on the phone, Lindsay told me I should really do it, so here we go. My earliest memories.
-I can recall the layout of the second house I lived in very, very well. When I was just a baby my parents moved from Minneapolis to Minnetonka. Our house was big, rambling, with a world of a backyard. There were no fences in our neighborhood.
-I used to eat, now brace yourselves, ketchup and cheese sandwiches. Mom, what were you thinking? I really liked them though. So much so, that I named a cute ensemble I had- yellow stirrup pants under red sweater pants (forgive me, it was the early 90s) my "ketchup and cheese pants." I have a distinct memory of my mom telling me to "put your ketchup and cheese pants on."
-Before I had a "big girl bed," I used to climb in and out of my white canopied crib. Sometimes I would take my diaper off, and throw it over the crib's edge. Yes, I remember that. I also remember my diapers had roger rabbit on them, or some other bunny character.
-I could not wait to get my new bed, and would ask my mom each morning when it would arrive. I had that Ethan Allen set my entire childhood.
-My mom calling conditioner "cream rinse"
-The beautiful, silk edged yellow blanket, "blankie" that I still love today.
-The "heart family" collection of barbies. I had a few barbies, and one ken with a missing leg.
-Mom waking me up on the 4th of July in what seemed like the middle of the night to watch fireworks from my window
-Dad was always off on business, and sometimes he took me with him. (Dad, I'm putting this memory in here for you, because I know it's your favorite). We flew to Texas and when I got off the plane, I said to him "daddy we flew to summer."
-Baking with mom, sitting on the footstool to reach the stove to stir something delicious.
-I remember my private school kindergarten interview well. They showed me a picture of colored block and asked me what I thought it was, and I thought it looked like the Minneapolis skyline on a clear day.
-Sometimes it was hard to go to bed, and I would get scared for whatever reason. To keep me out of bed with my parents, dad gave me a beautiful authentic Native American rattle that he said would keep the evil spirits away. So I would lie in my bed and shake it until I fell asleep. LOL.
-Bottles with the hole in them, for handles.
-Going to daycare and hating it.
-Eating play dough because it was so salty (the homemade stuff) and I really like savory things. Ew!
-Mom braiding my hair very tightly at the kitchen table each morning
-Going to the Renaissance Festival in costume.
-Lots of beautiful dresses. I had a smocked blue one that I loved.
-Waking up mom on Saturday at 6am! Good morning!
-Painting a lot. With watercolors, oils, and acrylics. On tiny canvases. It's too bad I don't do that much now.
-Eating too many sprinkles and throwing them all up
-Getting sick at dad's house one time. I threw up on both sides of my sheets in the middle of the night and called his name, he came in and cleaned it up. What a fantastic father I have.
-Wearing dad's t-shirts as nightgowns (this happened up through middle school)
-Driving across Lake Superior (yes on the ice) in Bessy (dad's suv) to Madeline Island. A magical place where my dreams always came true.
-Going up to Split Rock lighthouse with mom and feeling so enchanted by the word of lighthouses and this pretty, Victorian, yellow one. It felt like another world.
-For Christmas one year dad made me a beautiful pink table and chairs and a gorgeous red dollhouse with shingled roof. He worked so hard on them, and I loved them. But what did I do? Ruin them. I decided I needed to "re-decorate" the red house, so I painted it yellow (sigh) and painted patterns on the table on chairs.
-My first communion and the cream and white pinstriped dress that was too sophisticated for me to appreciate at age 7. I told mom it was "ugly."
-Playing with my tiny plastic "quints" dolls. What happened to those?
-Getting literally so excited for my cousins and/or grandparents to visit from PA. I loved when they came.
-Second hand shopping with mom on the weekends. We always found something good.
-Going down south to Savannah and swimming in the gorgeous beachy waters there in my little fluorescent floral bikini
-Wearing a uniform to school, and mom making me fantastic hair bows and headbands to match out of pretty burgundy, gray, and green ribbons (those were our colors).
That's all I can recall for now. I think should do this, too, dear readers.
