So far all my blogs have been about Chester, and being a Mom. As much as I love Chester, being a Mom and a wife, that's not all I am. I'm my own person, and have my own likes and interests. I've been thinking about what I should blog about next, and mostly it's been parenting things. Things like, cloth diapering, circumcision, a blog all about being a Mommy, and so on. While I love all of those things, and want to share my thoughts, I've decided my first post back after being away for so long should be one all about me. While that sounds kind of self-centered, I want people to know there's more to me than just being a Mom and Wife. I started an "I'm back" sort of blog already, but never got it finished. Who knows if I ever will. Anyway, so thinking about what to write, I've decided to go back to the beginning. I feel like sharing about childhood and my fondest memories. This will be a great trip down memory lane for me, and will make my family smile.
So lets see, I was born December 1989 in Frankfurt Germany. My Mom told me she was in labor with me for 24 hours. God help her! We lived in Germany because my Dad was in the Air Force, and we moved to Indiana when I was 3 years old. I don't remember anything about Germany, and it would be nice to go back one day so I could see exactly where I'm from. I had a pretty great childhood. I had two wonderful parents, who weren't perfect, but did the best with what they had. Growing up, they were pretty perfect from where I sat, though. They worked hard for us, and made sure we had everything we needed.
I remember growing up the the most beautiful gardens. One giant food garden, and a few flower gardens. The only part I hated, was when we had to go out and pick green beans. Not only did we have to go pick them, but we had to clean them, and cut the ends off so my parents could "can" them. The children in our family always loved to go to the garden and pick the fresh fruits and veggies and sit out in the garden while eating them. One day, I remember the four oldest of us walked through deciding what to eat. We picked up a cantaloupe, some strawberries, and some tomatoes. The things we picked from the garden were always so fresh and delicious. The strawberries hardly ever made it to the house. Thinking back to that garden makes me want one of my own once we get out of this apartment and into a house. I would love for Chester to have that in his childhood since it's one of my favorite memories.
The flower gardens also were a great part of my childhood. It was always such a great, calming feeling walking out the back door to a beautiful garden full of flowers. It was like a scene from a movie. The sun shining, birds chirping, walking out to the warmth from the sun on your skin, and seeing different kinds of flowers surrounding you. I know, I know. It sounds really lame, or even made up, but I loved it. I'm a girl, so I'm a sucker for some beautiful gardening. I always loves picking small bouquets of flowers for my Mom, but hated that they would wilt away and die. They always lasted longer outside and we could enjoy them more. Especially since they usually attracted some kind of bugs or flies as soon as they started dying.
We lived in a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house, it was my parents and 5 kids. Things got pretty crazy at times, but it was life. I miss that house. I miss the memories. Everything was so easy then. Do your chores, then go outside to play. It's crazy how different things are now, you tend not to enjoy those kinds of things once you get to a certain age. I want Chester to enjoy those things like I did, for as long as possible.
Sometimes thinking back to my childhood is sad, sad because it's over and it seems like it was so long ago. Thinking back to Christmastime in that house, all of us kids surrounding the Christmas tree, excited to see what "Santa" brought us. Thinking back to summertime, the doors and windows all open so we could let the summer breeze in. I just hope to create a childhood Chester can look back on with pride and joy and want to pass those things along to his children.
I'm thinking about all the pets we had there. You could say it was like we were a home for all the strays. We always wanted to keep animals that were wandering the neighborhood, and typically we did. We would either convince my Mother, or feed the thing so it knew to stay. We had heartbreak, and love, anger and happiness, and we all had each other. Even though we all went our separate ways, and my parents divorces, those were some of the best times of my life.
Riding around on our bikes in circles around the house and driveway acting like we were NASCAR drivers, because that's the one sport we always watched as a family. Playing in the yard and on the play set, playing- don't touch the grass because it's lava. Climbing in the trees, and picking out "our" specific trees, or climbing in the garage because dinosaurs were going to eat us and the safest place was up in the rafters where we believe they couldn't reach us. Playing Super Mario with my Mom, or when I got stung by a bee and ran in front of the television and made her lose. [I wish my sister was awake to share some of her thoughts on this.] On snowy days when we would take our sleds across the street to the church to go sledding, then coming home to hot chocolate Mom made. Taking the baseball and bat up to the ball diamond to play a few games while waiting for dinner. Sitting upstairs with Rachel in the "small bedroom" playing a game of BS singing some Britney Spears (quietly so our parents didn't hear us) while it was storming. Having to sleep in the hallway (which we thought was so awesome) because IU lost an important game, and because not too long before that us girls had a rock thrown through our window.
These are all tons of memories that I miss about being there, being around my giant family. Even though we didn't always get along, I appreciate all the time we shared.
I'm sure I'll be adding to this one, whether it's in future blogs, or just returning here to jot down a good memory I forgot to include. I'll always come back here to remember these things and smile. I just wish I had pictures handy to share. Growing up then, was so much different than kids growing up now. I hope I never lose sight of that, and am able to recreate some of those things for my children. I know they would love it just like I did.
I will add though, I never thought I'd be where I am today. You know something though, I wouldn't trade any of this or my past for the world.
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