Reminiscing On Childhood

How many of you have heard that you shouldn't dwell on the past, that it isn't healthy. . . I say BS! I find it emotionally soothing, especially after a hard day at work or just a hard day in general to look back on the days of my youth and the moments that have stuck in my memory!

For instance, I was sitting in the yard this evening watching the lightening bugs and recalled being a kid, and the joy of capturing these little "fairies" and putting them in a jar, careful to make sure that mom had made holes in the lid so that they could breathe! The memory brought me comfort and joy!

Also, the memory of my favorite uncle who would spread a blanket on the ground and take us outside to stargaze and we would tell him what we thought the stars were... we would make up stories like they were angels eyes sparkling or something... that one always makes me smile as I still stargaze to this day and have done the same with my kids!

I say age is just a number, and to recall the special memories that he had as children is a great thing! I know that when I feel overwhelmed by the troubles and issues of adulthood, my youth is my favorite place to go!

There are times that I believe that the past is the perfect place to dwell!

What are some of your favorite childhood memories? I bet remembering will make you smile and feel a little brighter!

To feel the stings of being denied not only love, but of all emotions regarding affection as well as degrading like a dog to drink from the toilet.

I learned from it, because it is through the pain can you only learn. Did you only want nice, friendly stories in this thread to feel sunshine and roses and hide from the pain you see all around you? It is to put in place the middle point so the thread is not perverted as strongly with the ego, trivializing it to only a few people because they had what people deem a 'happy' childhood.

reply to post by Greenize


I feel somewhat sad when I reminisce on my childhood years, but not because it was actually a sad time. I had a very happy, joyous childhood. What's saddening is knowing that you will never be that excitable, energetic, or clueless to the evils of the world again. It was nice to be so excited about such trivial things as fireworks or snow, and to have so much energy that you could just spend the entire day running around outside playing tag or hide-and-go-seek. I regret that some of my childhood was wasted by wishing I was grown...I should have listened to the advice of adults who said to not take your childhood for granted.

Anyway, the precious memories I have are:

- Christmas. We would always have big family parties at our house and eat a big delicious dinner prepared by my mother. Opening presents was always exciting, especially when waking up Christmas morning to see what toys Santa had left. I would always leave out cookies and a written note for Santa. Watching all the Christmas classics (i.e 'Frosty the Snowman') throughout December still gives me a fuzzy feeling inside.

-Easter. Getting candy and little stuffed animals from the Easter Bunny was exciting as well. Every Easter, we would decorate eggs, I'd get dolled up in a little Spring dress and go to my great grandfather's house for an egg hunt. This was a blast for me. Some "eggs" you would find were actual eggs and others were plastic with a prize inside such as money or candy.

-Halloween. This was always my favorite holiday. I LOVED to dress up in Halloween costumes...sometimes something cute like a princess or fairy, sometimes something scary like an alien or witch. My younger cousin's birthday is on Halloween, so there would always be a costume party at his house and later all the kids would go trick-or-treating together.

-4th of July. We would always have cookouts with the family at our house. We would all go swimming in our pool and later go to the local park to watch fireworks and eat yummy snow cones.

-Summer vacation. I think this is an exciting time for all school children. The feeling of getting out from the last day of school and knowing you have the whole summer ahead of you is indescribable.

-Snow days. I think these days are exciting for pretty much every child (and teen) in school as well. For most of the "snow days" here, however, the roads were just iced over. The few times we actually got REAL snow were an amazing experience for a child. I couldn't believe my eyes at all the snow! I made sure to take advantage of the opportunity to build a snowman, make snow angels, and engage in snowball fights!

-3rd grade. This was my greatest school year. I had the funnest teacher a child could ever have! We celebrated some very obscure holidays like "apple butter day" and "popcorn day" and we got to eat said snacks. My favorite activity we did was on St. Patricks Day when our class split up into teams and had to search around the school for clues that lead to the "pot of gold", which was actually a bucket of candy.

-Ghost hunting. I was always into the paranormal as was one of my friends and my cousin (the one whose birthday is on Halloween). We would always try to catch a ghost on camera and leave messages for the ghosts on a chalkboard and wait for them to respond by writing the answers to our questions. We even left blanks for the ghost to fill in their name. I now know we never got an answer but we would try to make the smudges on the chalkboard out to be letters. lol

-Girly fun. My female friends and cousins and I loved to dress up and do each other's hair, makeup, and nails as if we were grown and then putting on a "fashion show" for the rest of the family. I remember my cousins and I dressing up in my grandmother's old clothes from the 60s and 70s.

-Berry wars. My grandparent's had a bunch of berry bushes in their yard. There were TONS of berries. My cousins and I would split up into teams and engage in "berry wars", hiding out and attacking other team members with berries.

There were lots of other fun things like sleepovers, the fair, the zoo, "tooth fairy", going to the toy store, ect. One thing that still gives me a warm feeling inside is when I see the Willow tree in my grandmother's backyard. My closest cousin and I would just sit in that tree for hours and just talk. I also used to be amazed by lightening bugs, though I never caught them. I've always loved the serene summer nights when the crickets, frogs, and the other night critters can be heard. That's actually what I was thinking of when I made my username, 'HarmonicNights'.

Great idea for a thread. S&F!

reply to post by OneLife


I am not naive enough to think that everyones childhood is all rainbows and butterflies... I have memories within my own that are not happy ones... I am sure we all do.... surely there has been happiness sometime in your life that you can think back on and find a smile...

I remember that while we didn't live in the greatest neighborhood, my parents still let me have a lemonade stand/bake sale out on the sidewalk. We didn't get too much foot traffic, but I remember selling brownies & lemonade to those that passed. Me (9) & My sister (4) made $70 that day!!!

I also remember getting straight As for the first time & my dad bringing me home a boombox! It had double tape decks, so I could record to one tape from the other -- awesome!

Originally posted by Greenize
reply to post by OneLife

 

I am not naive enough to think that everyones childhood is all rainbows and butterflies... I have memories within my own that are not happy ones... I am sure we all do.... surely there has been happiness sometime in your life that you can think back on and find a smile...

I for one love your memories! I actually borrowed them just now as I was reading and it was joyful, and although my tear that filled my eyes was not your childhood memories but my own.

My childhood was filled with pain, confusion, fear, and eventual collapse; but it did not prevent me from knowing some very beautiful moments. I think we forget the bad in an attempt to remember the good, but then we are haunted. I have exorcised my nightmares as I do hope Onelife can do as well; talking about the past can certainly help to opening up to those more joyous moments even if they are laced with pain.

There is no question that pain can sustain! LOL

But, I like this thread because it is sweet, and I remember my first Fireflies! I miss Fireflies!

Thank you for the smile this morning Greenize!

reply to post by Greenize


It also depends on your childhood I would say.
When you have good memories it IS healthy to revisit those, if you have had a terrible childhood, I would say it COULD be a negative thing to dwell on it. So it depends on the individual.
Now my favorite childhood memories are also of a favorite uncle, he died when I was 8. I remember him showing me his train sets and sending them going and making them whistle and I loved those trains. He built dollhouses and was working on mine when he died. I never got to have it and don't know what the family did with it. He was very good at the quarter behind the ear trick and did other "magic" tricks for me, too he even showed me how to perform them...but alas I don't recall them. The favorite one he showed me was with a glass covered with a napkin on the table that he made "disappear" until he taught it to me, I was astounded at that trick. But it's mechanics I don't recall anymore. It was the coolest though.

My daughter says she seen me levitate a rose. She still swears this was her favorite memory and yet I know I could do no such thing. She tells me I told her I was a witch and that's true (I was strictly Wiccan then now I am pagan, but I still refer to myself as a witch) and told her I would prove it to her and levitated a rose. May have been a trick, I was pretty into "Magic tricks" but I really don't recall ever being able to do a trick like that! Maybe my uncle was there that day (in spirit)?

This is an interesting topic, childhood memories. I wonder if people's selection of events (good ones versus bad ones) changes with what age you are. I was born into poverty, and my (late) Dad, would not hold onto a job, so, the resulting turmoil from that, hence resulted in some bad memories I have. I used to dwell on those, which would maintain this huuuuuuuge chip on my shoulder of bitter resentment. But now, lately, I have been dwelling on the actually, good ------ memories, of which there are as well. Like the OP, catching the summer night light bugs. Just recently, I was indulging in remembering where my mom and dad would take us kids to this park, where wede run and play and run and play, until we nearly could no longer muster the stamina to run and play. We were covered in green grass stains, and then my parents would stop at an icecream stand and buy us slushies, or dipped cones.

Just because one had a bad childhood doesn't mean they cant at least try to pick out a few good memories! =]

Trust me mine was far from good, and I can think of quite a few things so here goes.


I remember when my sister and I were about nine years old, when we weren't tired and didn't fall asleep straight away, we would look out the window and play this game where we would try to guess the color of the next car that drove by would be, like a psychic game. I really miss playing that!

Another one is, before my sister and I moved into my grandmas house, we would always go over there and see these cookies she had on her kitchen counter. They were decent size special made cookies that looked like flowers, cartoon characters, words, ect. We always wanted to eat them because they looked so good but we couldnt because they were for decoration. One day she took us to the store that made them and let us pick one out ourselves. It was awesome! We did not use it for decoration, we ate it