from my childhood, i remember...

... riding down country roads on my bicycle.

... going to the grocery store with my parents and always being so excited when they would let us "taste-test" a grape or cherry or piece of brach's candy from the farmstand. {we were testing them for quality, you see. *wink, wink*}

... watching fireworks on a hill at the city park every fourth of july.

... singing with my four siblings in front of congregations at churches we'd visit {and being very, very nervous }.

... collecting stickers.

... falling in love with classical music around age eleven when my music teacher played part of mendelssohn's midsummer night's dream.

... crying when my cat, silvercloud, would leave for several months to go have her babies. {we lived out in the country, and she was an outside cat who had five litters of five kittens throughout the time i had her.}

... chasing and collecting fireflies in the cool grass on summer nights.

... listening to my parents entertain guests long after my bedtime, wishing i could be with them and be part of their interaction.

... being afraid of so many things. {i was scared of clowns, i'm told. i think i remember one instance of seeing one in public somewhere and clinging to my father's neck as he held me. i'm not sure where we were. maybe a party of some sort??? i just remember it was on a sidewalk.}

... watching television shows like little house on the prairie, love boat, fantasy island, mash, the muppets... i think there were more, but those are the ones that stick out.

... eating often at kentucky fried chicken with my family. {my parents had to be resourceful and find inexpensive ways to feed a large, hungry family of seven. we always got the big bucket, and i always wanted a leg.}

... getting home from church on sunday afternoons and finding the amazing aromas of my dad's delicious pot roasts that had been cooking all morning with carrots, potatoes and onions. he'd also always make a homemade fruit jello and homemade punch. it was his day to cook and i remember those days like they were yesterday.

... my mom's clothes and hair. my mom was very beautiful when i was growing up... still is. but i remember a certain look about her... mostly during my days from about 3rd grade to 8th grade. she was the junior choir director at church, and i can still see her pretty frame in her pretty clothes as she stood before all of us kids and led our singing.

... playing pretend with my twin sister in our bedroom. we transformed that room into so many things... spaceships, an office {we loved to answer the old rotary phone -- unplugged, of course }, a recording studio, a grocery store. we had to be creative. we lived out in the country.

... living at the city pool every day during the summers while my mom and dad were in town at work. my siblings and i were like fish and all had very browned skin!

... drawing pictures to my heart's content.

... sitting on my very cool uncle's knees with my twin while he lovingly told us why we should get along with each other, and then being rewarded with a striped candy stick for listening to his little life lesson. it was at a great pancake house called millie's where there was an old-fashioned candy store and lots of antique chairs for patrons to sit around in. i so vividly remember that day.

...

i think i could remember and list so many more things if i sat here long enough. but that would be one long post... even for me.

so i just mentioned these as they were the first that came to my mind.

i'm curious... what good childhood memories do you carry and revel in?