The ever energetic Randy at Genea-Musings proposed a great idea for 'Saturday Night Fun', his weekly post... since I went to bed with the chickens on Saturday night, I'm just getting to his article early Sunday morning... His idea was inspired by the RootsTech keynote speech that Judy Lewis, the Legal Genealogist gave... demonstrating how easily family stories are lost & forgotten. [I've linked up to Randy, Judy & RootsTech in case you haven't seen them before you got to me... check them out!]
The questions Randy posed are about our own childhoods... and since I'm in my mid-30s, it hasn't been a super long time since I was a child... but I even had to think about a couple of the questions...
which are-
1) What was your first illness as a
child?
2) What was the first funeral you attended?
3) What was your
favorite book as a child?
4) What was your favorite class in elementary
school?
5) What was your favorite toy as a child?
6) Did you learn how
to swim, and where did you learn?
and my answers-
1) I think my only real illness was the chicken pox, which I came down with just as Summer began after 3rd grade, that whole Spring our class was ravaged by chicken pox. I, of course, waited until school was out to get it. Ugh. Otherwise I never had a broken bone, never had surgery, never spent time in the hospital, and never had any other strange/rare illnesses. Which was great, because my Mother was not one to take us to the doctor. In fact, we never went. I tease her still that we were like Christian Scientists...of course, we didn't really pray to get well either...
2) My Great-Uncle passed away when I was 11. That was the first funeral we all attended as a family. My Grandmother died in Arizona, and her illness was swift and uncertain, so I was left in Minnesota with my other Grandparents, and did not go to her funeral with the rest of my family. And when my Great-Grandma passed away, our neighbor lady Hazel walked across the street to watch my brother [still in diapers] and me, while my Mom when to the small funeral home service.
3) My favorite book as a child was probably the Box Car Children series, which I started ready in 2nd grade. I was a big reader, so a "favorite" book is really difficult. Even today, I can't really pick favorites.
4) Again, I don't know that I had a "favorite" class in elementary school... I loved to read and I really liked geography... So I think it was a toss up between them! School was easy for me [back then] so I like most classes I had.
5) My favorite toy was my large stuffed monkey "Georgie". I loved Georgie. I'd take him for wagon rides, etc and he was clearly my favorite toy for years. I have photos of me unwrapping him for Christmas... [wish the photos were scanned into the computer so I could insert one here... I was adorable then! So was Georgie]. I still have Georgie, though the wagon rides have ended.
6) Yes. I learned to swim. Though I was slow to do so, and was one of the older kids in my swimming lessons class, which was held at our local swimming pool. I was initially scared of the water. I hate the diving boards. The first time (or 3?) the instructor basically had to throw me off of the diving board...which I'm sure helped my fears [not really]. Though after a couple of Summers, I became a good swimmer and lived at the pool. When I was young, I had a traumatic [for me] water experience... a story my Dad loves to tell... but I will save for another day here [or never].
Ok. There are my answers....and some fond memories attached as well.
Not only is it a nice exercise for our own minds to relive some old memories...it a great motivator to get these & other questions answered by our family members...the older the better! I'm always prattling on about how we need to fully utilize the living, breathing family members we have!
Now, we should all take a little stroll down memory lane... and grab Grandma or Aunt Myrtle along for the ride!
Thanks to Randy for the challenge & to Judy for planting the seeds in the first place!
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