Living in the Past

I’m so sick of Space Camp pictures right now. I know, shocking. I feel like I just posted one two days ago and I know that it’s Thursday and I should post another, but, honestly, I just don’t want to. And guess what? I’m the boss of this site. I may not be the boss of my kid or my husband or my dog or my work or even myself 80% of the time, but dagumit! this blog answers to me!!! So I’ll write Lucy’s 15-month letter when I’m good and ready, people! Even if this means she’s 2 1/2 before it’s posted.

I’m also in the middle of about ten posts on random subjects that I’d really love to finish. And, strangely enough, most of these posts have to do with the number 10 (I just typed, deleted and retyped “the letter 10” three times before I realized that 10 is a number, not a letter. I hope my intellect blows your mind.)

Because I’m all about themes around here, I decided to keep with my nostalgia with a post inspired by Mighty Girl and her fabulous book No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog. If you’re starting a blog or site of your own and don’t have a giant box of Space Camp pictures, this book is a great way to get started. It’s chock full of ideas for interesting posts…like this one!

My first decade:

Age 1: I learn how to play paddy-cake before I can walk. My mother thinks I’m a genius. This will come back to haunt me when I have my own daughter who can’t live up to my paddy-cake prowice.

Age 2: I wake up every morning singing and when my mom comes into my room I say, “Mama, isn’t it a beautiful day?” I soon realize positive thinking gets you nowhere.

Age 3: My little brother is loud. I decide to flush him down the toilet. My parents do not like this idea.

Age 4: I experience my first brush with dorkiness when I read a book at preschool. The other kids saying I’m lying and that I’ve just memorized a book, but I really could read it! I get very angry and learn to hate my peers. Begin planning world domination.

Age 5: I win the student of the week award in Kindergarten. I am very excited about my certificate and my mom frames it for me. I give it to my sister, who’s in college, as a gift. As a teenager I find my gift in the back of her old, grey Datsun. It’s was bleached by the sun, but you could still read my name.

Age 6: I go see my first space shuttle launch in October. I get time off school and then I have to give a presentation about what I saw. All the other kids think I’m very cool. This does not last past first grade.

Age 7: I have to move to a new school because my brother has a learning disability. I cry because I don’t want to leave my friends. The new school is a Catholic school and they make us go to church and wear dresses, which I hate.

Age 8: I scrape the front of my face doing flips on the bar we used for scraping mud off our shoes at school. We weren’t supposed to play on it, so I lie and say I was playing on the jungle gym and fell. I still have three small scars on my upper lip.

Age 9: My grandmother, who helped raise me, dies. We are at my parent’s lake cabin when we find out. I remember her looking like she was asleep and my younger brother crying a lot. I also remember my best friend Katie came to the funeral and tried to hug me. I ran into the bathroom and wouldn’t come out.

Age 10: I get my first kiss from Bobby, who lived across the street from my grandmother’s house. He is blond and very cute. We kissed on top of his dad’s riding lawnmower on a dare.

Now here’s the interactive portion of today’s post. What do you remember about your childhood? Thoughts?