# Do You Have A Favorite Childhood Memory?



## SeaBreeze (Mar 31, 2012)

We used to rent a little bungalow near the beach in the summertime, to get out of the city. My father bought an old sailboat (minus the sails), painted it, fiberglassed the bottom and bought a reliable motor for it so we could go fishing together. The boat was seaworthy to be sure, and he named it SeaBreeze...hence my user name. 

He was passionate about taking us out and showing us a good time, his positive energy and happy spirit touched all of us in a special way. We always caught a lot of fish. He baited my hook and took off my fish for me, so my hands wouldn't have to get stinky. :love_heart: After cleaning all the fish, he gave the excess to our elderly neighbors, who always enjoyed a fresh fish dinner.

When weather was rough, and the seas were choppy, he'd make me go under the poop deck for safety. Ahh, good times to be sure. Would be nice to re-live it just for one day.


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## Bill.K (Apr 2, 2012)

Well my, I saw this thread and it was a walk down memory lane that's for sure, I've spent the while looking at pictures. Yes, I have plenty of good memories. My grand parents owned a hotel/train station sort of deal, and it was right on a lake it was huge, there were little cottages all over the property for the staff, 40 rooms in the main building, a boathouse and a pretty large dock. The amount of memories I have there is overwhelming, one of which is my grandfather (on the other side of the family) was teaching me fish off the dock it was just so exciting. Words don't do it justice but to be 6 or 7 learning to fish is quite a fun thing to do and I could go on and on about the times I had there... Thank you for making me remember this


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## TxTwisterGl (Apr 6, 2012)

My fave memory is riding in the pasture in my Pappaw's truck going to feed the cows and him starting to sing a little song about going swimming with bowlegged women and then him glancing down at us to see if we had heard him and watching him turn red when he knew that we did. Id give anything to have that time back. He was my biggest influence growing up and the only father I knew. And he loved me and my son as no one else could.


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## Knightofalbion (Jun 25, 2012)

Hearing my mother in the kitchen wrapping the presents on Christmas Eve. When I was at a younger age, it was merely the excitement of wondering what presents I would be getting in the morning. But as I got older I appreciated more and more the LOVE behind the gifts....And that was the greatest gift of all.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 15, 2013)

I have sweet memories of taking mid-day naps with my mother when I was very young, pre-school age.  She would always fall asleep and sometimes snore, and even if I stayed awake, it was nice to be next to her and know that I was very much loved.  When she was asleep and vulnerable, I felt that I was the mom watching out for her. :love_heart:


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## SifuPhil (Jan 16, 2013)

I was going to say, "building and playing with my HO-scale slot cars on the ping-pong table in the basement", but somehow after reading all your comments that seems so ... wrong.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 16, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> I was going to say, "building and playing with my HO-scale slot cars on the ping-pong table in the basement", but somehow after reading all your comments that seems so ... wrong.



Not wrong at all!  I remember visiting my sister's house as a child, and her hubby had an HO train set-up on the floor in one of the rooms, and it was great entertainment for all of us, regardless of age...stuff like that holds great memories. 



SifuPhil said:


> Yeah, see, I was a city-boy born and raised. My mother gave birth to me on the #9 _North Broadway_ --> _Getty Square_ bus during rush-hour, I was raised in the basement of City Hall and I had my first apartment in the middle of the city dump, so in one way or another I've always had that city connection.
> 
> To me, "wildlife" meant squirrels and bluejays. The biggest creature I encountered until I first went to the zoo at 54 years of age was my dog Heidi, and SHE was just a dwarf Chihuahua with a thyroid problem.



You're a gem Sifu, love your sense of humor! :applause:  You had the good life enjoying the squirrels and bluejays, I just remember rats and pigeons.


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## SifuPhil (Jan 30, 2013)

Yep, I remember dawn-to-dusk sessions outside too ... the occasional check-in for Hawaiian Punch and a bathroom break, then back out again. 

Isn't it sad what the kids are missing now? (Geeze, I sound like an old man!)


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## SifuPhil (Feb 3, 2013)

Have you ever had a sight, a sound or an odor trigger a flashback to your childhood? 

That's happened to me several times and it's always an amazing thing. It usually puts me into a very specific time and place and for a few moments I feel like I'm actually there. There must be a way to bottle that stuff ...


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## lilpoppy1 (May 3, 2013)

My fondest memories of childhood are many. I hold on to them like crazy. Every Christmas, we would receive tickets to Disney Land, the old Book of Tickets, you remember those. The E ticket was the best one and got you on the Matterhorn and the pirate ride or was that called the log ride? I cant remember. haha. 
My aunt worked for the airlines as a stewardess, not a flight attendant. LOL. She use to get free Disney Coupon Books and give em to us for gifts. We knew we would get them every Christmas and would go the next week. But every night before we went none of us could ever sleep it was so exciting. We would toss and turn and dream of what it was going to be like and how much fun we were going to have. Ah the good ole days.


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## Sassycakes (Aug 15, 2016)

Summer vacations....Every year we went to the seashore for the 1st two weeks of July,with my Parents and Aunts ,Uncles and loads of cousins. We all rented places next to one another. My Mom had 5 sisters and 5 brothers and many of them came with their children . It was great fun. I was close to the cousins my age,my sister with the ones her age and the same with my brother. We were so very lucky and I will never forget those Wonderful days.


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## Sweetpea (Sep 10, 2016)

*I have lots of childhood memories which are great to look back on.   My fondest one would be spending summers when school was out at my Grandparents farm in Mansfield, Mo.   When grandpa would milk the cows I felt sorry for the ones standing waiting and I would choose one cow and it would be it's birthday.  With a dried up cow pattie I would put sticks in it and that was the cake.  Then I would sing to them till my heart was content.   Butchering on the farm was a experience.  It's a wonder I would eat meat at all. Then on Sundays grandma would have a lot of people from church for dinner.   Oh the good times I wouldn't trade for anything.  *


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## Raven (Sep 10, 2016)

A fond memory for me is playing outside until dusk with my brothers until we were 
all tired.  Then we went inside and our Mom made us hot cocoa to sip on with soda crackers.
After that we had no trouble falling asleep.
Too bad children don't play outside much anymore.


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## Jackie22 (Sep 10, 2016)

I remember going to my grandmother's....she had cages and cages of rabbits that were fascinating to watch and many trails in the yard and vegetable garden that us grand kids explored.


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## jujube (Sep 10, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Have you ever had a sight, a sound or *an odor trigger a flashback to your childhood*?
> 
> That's happened to me several times and it's always an amazing thing. It usually puts me into a very specific time and place and for a few moments I feel like I'm actually there. There must be a way to bottle that stuff ...



The smell of hot tar and gasoline.  Every summer, the county would come out and pour fresh tar on our road and then cover it with fine gravel.  Of course the tar would just bubble up when the sun got hot and we'd get it all over our feet whenever we'd run across the road to a friend's house (shoes? we didn't need no stinkin' shoes!)

My mother always had a rag and a squirt bottle of gasoline sitting on the back stoop and we had to clean the tar off our feet and rinse them off with the hose before we could come in the house.  Those two smells bring me right back to carefree childhood summers when the worst thing I had to dread was getting tar on my mom's floor (and that was something you didn't do_ twice _if you valued your life....)


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## Bobw235 (Sep 10, 2016)

Getting up at dawn to go fishing on Lake Winnipesaukee with my father. Just me and the old man up before the sun. A fond memory.

Playing football in my best friend's backyard and basketball for hours in my driveway.

Pingpong in my cellar with my best friend.

Camping out in the backyard as a kid.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Sep 10, 2016)

I remember my Dad building a huge kite for me. He used heavy brown paper and he let me color it. I made stripes in all different colors. Finally it was done and after a few adjustments on the tail it flew so high we could barely see it. What a fun day. Then there was the night I stayed at my Grandma's house. In the morning she let me cook an egg on my toy stove that was electric with tiny coils that heated up. It took me all morning to make that egg but it was the best one I ever ate.


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## fureverywhere (Sep 10, 2016)

It would be a tie between my grandfather's house and spending summers in a cabin at Cape Cod. My grandfather's house was a refuge from so very many things. Big, quiet, just enough freedom to be happy. Fondest memory there was his attic, or garrote as
he called it. He took an afternoon nap every day. Two rules while he was asleep...don't go near the gun case and don't get hurt anywhere else. Oh and Kentucky Fried Chicken every night. We gave the scraps to his neighbors dogs.

His attic was musty and old but I loved it. My grandmother's old movie magazines and scandal sheets were up there. I would read for hours about old movie stars, drink root beer and maybe a jelly roll slice on the side. Cape Cod was swimming, tennis, a fireplace and pancakes, trees to climb, feral cats to cuddle, Hyannis and penny candy, cotton candy...laying in front of the fire reading Mad magazine. All a lifetime ago.


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