Monday, July 14, 2008

Childhood Memories

It can get pretty creepy down hereThis is suppose to be the most magical time of our lives, where things are surrounded by mystery, ghosts and goblins abound, where things go bump in the night, and at bedtime there is always something under the bed or in the closet.

I can remember one time when I was about ten, my mom wanted me to go down to the cellar and get some coal. The entrance to our cellar was outside and down about ten steps to the door, that alone was scary, it was like entering a cave of long ago. You had to feel inside the door for a chain and then pull it, it was torture until your hand came in contact with the chain and pulled it. This is not to mention the light added to the eerie shadows that reflected on the walls, it was probably a low watt bulb. I scooped up the coal in the coal bucket, turned off the light and ran back to the house. After that I made sure we had coal in the bucket before dark.

I have many fond memories of my childhood, the one sad thing was the death of my father, he was killed at work, in the steel mill in Pittsburg, Pa., it was October, 1942. I can remember how we always listened to the news broadcasts to see how the war was going, it was World War 2. and they had just announced that America was going to be bombed. I spent most of that night looking out the window for airplanes. My Dad was a good father, but very strict, we loved him for the short time that he was allowed to live on earth.

From birth there are phases of growth, infant, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Our greatest adult fears were created by childhood memories, even our attitudes, perspectives, expectations and our adult view of life are influenced by childhood memories.

When we were kids it did not take much to make us happy, we were always thinking up games to play, not much time was spent indoors. I don't know about you, but it seems like yesterday we were running and playing, following a favorite creek, pretending it was a river and you may see a ship or two. Pretending when you were a kid is lost in adults, we have lost the ability to enter that magical kingdom again, in a way this is sad. Even so, memories is powerful, I think everyday of adult life is touched by memories of childhood experiences.

Most of us have siblings that share in our childhood memories, if you were close to a brother or sister you are blessed to have had someone to remember some of your happy and sad times. Sharing our memories with others is one of the most generous things we can do. Most of us have photos of our young days, this is a moment captured in time that will live on long after we do not. It is fun to rummage through the pictures of the past and say I don't remember that one, I can't remember looking like that.

Childhood was such a short lived part of our lives. Remember when Mom would say just wait you are little for just a short time and then you are big forever, so lets not rush things. I wish I could tell my mom she was right. So lets say goodbye to being young, many years have passed since those glorious days gone by. If you have a childhood story, I would like to hear it.

4 comments:

Doug Cloud said...

Mom, this is a great post. I especially like where you say, "Most of us have photos of our young days, this is a moment captured in time that will live on long after we do not." I often think about all the great memories I have of when we were younger and went camping and bottling hunting and how sad it will be that when I'm gone those memories will be gone, too. There will be no one to remember them.

Deb said...

I know what you mean. I was always considered the strange mom in the group because I would resist what I felt was over-programming children.

My kids say they can see the difference between themselves and their peers more and more each year in that they may seek out advice in comparing options but many of their friends have absolutely no clue what to do without a program (my kids range from 26-32 in case you're curious.

I remember being outdoors as a kid following old sheep paths around my grandparent's or a school friend's farm. Sometimes we would built forts and tunnels in the bales of hay (talk about danger of suffocating) of look for the Banty's nest or where mommy cat hid the kittens.

Just tons of stuff to do and we were not allowed to say we were bored or there was nothing to do or you got a hoe put in your hand. I kept a job jar and in summer the first "there's nothing to do" got a warning, the second got them a slip of paper from the job jar.

Margaret Cloud said...

Thank you g's cottage for stopping by.

Margaret Cloud said...

thank you dcloud for your comment.

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