I know, I know, I suck

There are a lot of things I want to blog about, a lot of stuff that blogging would help me figure out, or just feel good to put somewhere. Just not stuff I feel like sharing.

The old double edged sword of the blog. Yay! Readers! Oh no...readers...

Instead, I'm gonna go with a meme I've seen on other blogs, not something anyone tagged me with, but something I'm just gonna use to build some inspiration, and get this thing rolling again.


5 Things I Miss From My Childhood



1. Spending time at my grandmother's house.

She and I were very close when I was little, my mom was always going out, so I stayed with her 3-4 nights a week, when I was a kid. I miss it a lot.

She was never much of a cook, she would make pots of ramen noodles, with twice the right amount of water, and then proceed to empty the fridge of leftovers, into the pot. Leftover mashed potatoes? In they went. Leftover omlette from breakfast at the diner? In it went. Leftover pot roast, from dinner two nights ago? You guessed it. She would simmer the glop, till the noodles were downright squishy, then eat it happily. Me? I would bring TV dinners, to eat while I was there, or later, I learned to cook for myself. But, there's something I miss about sitting at her kitchen table, wincing as she dug through the fridge, producing all sorts of random odds and ends.

Breakfasts were fun, though, she would give me a $10 spot, to go to the bodega down the street, and buy a bag of Portugese rolls. I would always use a bit of the change and buy some candy, for later. But, I'd walk home with this huge crispy bag of rolls, and when I'd get back, she would have a cup of camomile tea ready for me, and coffee for herself, and we would eat the rolls, dipping them in our drinks. Often we finished up with a grapefruit, or an orange. She would always peel them in such a way that they wouldn't have any of the tough fibery parts.

She had a spare bedroom, with a queen sized bed, right next to her own room, I would sleep in there, most of the time. The room was so fancy, with this cream colored theme. The comforter and curtains had this huge fern print, in wild greens. I always felt so sophisticated sleeping in that huge fancy room. She kept her perfume bottles on a mirror, on top of this low dresser. I would sit and look in the mirror, over those perfume bottles, and feel so grown up. It was all very glamorous, to me. Even though I slept in there for years, that feeling never wore off.

Sometimes, she wouldn't be able to sleep, or I wouldn't, and she would tell me stories of WW2 and the time she spent in concentration camps. I would lay there silent, straining to hear her speaking quietly, she would often cry a little, while she was relating the stories. I don't remember them so much, but I rememember the feelings they gave me. A lot of times, I would go into her room, and crawl into her bed next to her, and try to get her to stop crying. Her room was sooo different from the guest room. Very lacy, and homy, a huge old fashioned sewing machine dominated one side of the room, looking out this giant picture window, over the street below. Her room was always sorta messy, too, piles of sewing everywhere, newspapers. Very cozy.

There's more details, but this whole blog is turning into a thing about my grandmother...


More:

2. When my dad would take me out on 'dates'

When my parents were getting divorced, there was a time, between May, when he moved out (3 days after my birthday, thanks dad...) and October, when the divorce was finalized, and he moved away, when he would see me every single weekend. He would take me out to really special places, and we would do fun things. I was 5, and a lot of the stuff we did was like, way over my head, but I just loved my dad so much, I was so enchanted by our days.

We lived in Indiana at the time, right outside of Lousiville, over the bridge by maybe 10 minutes. We went to festivals, in the summer, and to art galleries, he took me to outdoor concerts, and to fancy rich shopping districts, to walk around and have lunch. We saw movies, and went on adventures. It was a short time in my life, right before things sorta crumbled, but for what it's worth, it was absolute bliss. I still carry the memories from every weekend, and look back at them.



3. Trick or Treating

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Always was, always will be. I used to look forward (and still do) to Halloween, for half the year, scheming, planning my costume, waiting for the big day. I still do, but for Alden. I love getting dressed up, myself, but...where does one go? I hate clubs, parties...but I love getting dressed up.

I miss rushing home from school (or omg omg Saturday Halloweens were so GREAT) and diving into my costume, grabbing my pillowcase and rushing out to the corner to meet my buddies, or over to Jessy's house, to get her and her brother. Being a kid on Halloween is SOOO COOL. I mean, it's still a totally magical night, but it's magnified, then. Walking the town, boasting about how much ground you covered, making trips home to dump out your loot, and go out for more.



4. I miss reading, like I used to.

I was always a huge reader. I would just rip through books. I still read fast, but, when I get the time, or have the concentration to do so. I would come home from school, dash off my homework, and either run outside, on nice days, and sit on the huge covered swing, in the garden and read till dark. Or, I would lay crosswise on my bed, with my feet under the blankets, and stay there till dinner. I would finish 2-3 normal-kid books a day, when I got on jags. When I was 11, I discovered grownup literature, I was reading Stephen King, by 12. I wouldn't tear through those as fast, taking maybe 3 or 4 days to read one. I miss that. I miss all the time I could devote to reading, and how voraciously devoured knowledge, and fantasy. When I was 12, I also read Grey's Anatomy, half of my mom's 1978 Encylopedia Britannica, and just TONS of nonfiction. I went on a real knowledge kick, back then. I had this huge interest in astronomy, the human body, dinosaurs, and archeology. Stuff I was into then has shaped a lot of who I am now.

Now, I just don't have the drive, as much. Not only that, but when I DO feel like sitting down and reading, for some reason, book open in front of me = free time. Free time = pester me. "Oh, you're not busy..." I still do it when we go camping, though. I choose a few new books very carefully, and the whole 5-7 days we're out there, if I'm not cooking or hiking, I'm reading intensely.



5. Sleep Overs

Weren't sleep overs so cool? When you got to go to a friend's house, and stay over night. I loved that. My friends Becky, and later Jessy, would sleep over all the time, we would be at each others houses almost every weekend. We always did the typical stuff, games, TV, movies, make some bizarre food, annoyed each other's parents, but it was SO cool. As we got older, Jess and I would get into trouble, sneaking out of the house, going in the pool at 3 am, barbecuing our breakfast at 5 am...but that was when I was a teenager, so it doesn't count for this. But, I also loved sleeping over friends' houses. What a cool change of pace, eating their family's breakfast, seeing how other people lived, and what they did. I remember my friend Onnie's mom teaching us all how to swingdance, at 10 pm, one night, in her kitchen. There was like 3-4 of us 7 year old girls, in our nightgowns, swingdancing to old music. That was before it became big again, so this was something TOTALLY foreign to us.




That was a fun little writing assignment. As I was thinking of all this stuff (and limiting it to 5, there was a few more I could think of, like Saturday morning cartoons, class trips, and going to amusement parks to ride rides...) I was thinking, what if Alden wrote this, 20 years from now. Would he look back fondly on all sorts of stuff? I mean, I know he would, we make it our life's work to provide him with a fun and interesting childhood. But, what things would stand out most for him? Would he fondly remember things that we're doing for him? Real memory makers, stuff that's a huge deal to us (Twisted Sister concert...all the museums and culture we expose him to, etc) Or would it be "I used to watch this really cool cartoon..." Sometimes I don't know, he's got such weird interests.