~Share a magical memory from your childhood thread~

by FlyingHighNow 44 Replies latest jw friends

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  solo

  There was a freak snowstorm in Chicago. The drifts were at least 10 feet high and my father was not able to get home from downtown for about 4 days. School was cancelled and we spent 10 hours a day scooping out igloos in the drifts as every kid did in the neighborhood. There were magnificant snow ball fights between neighboring kids. It was total abandon to play and use of our imaginations. The time was magical and surreal.

  That sounds pretty magical!

  I remember sledging with my Dad down steep slopes just missing trees - fantastic fun.

  My magical moments are just simple ones, going on long walks through the countryside with my granny or grandad. In the Autumn we would shuffle through foot deep piles of dry leaves that had fallen from the trees. We would kick the leaves into the air and my granny would join in, at the time I thought it fantastic that she acted the same way as us kids.

  On one walk we came across a blackberry bush and my gran said that all we needed was a bag - then flyin through the air came a bag so we picked and picked until our fingers were stained and grazed. We took our spoil home for a apple and blackberry pie.
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  FlyingHighNow

  Buffalos, I have heard stories like yours before, watching animals in the wild. Your stories make me think of the scene in Bambi where his father stands majestically, watching over the forest. I get excited watching muskrats, squirrels, birds and rabbits, I can imagine seeing a deer or elk in the woods would be even more magical.

  Becca, I bet you at least have memories of going to get candy from your local store, or hearing crickets and frogs at night. I think it's wonderful that you are making sure your children have memory making experiences. Then there are the times we don't have to do anything special. Some magical memories can spring from spontaneous moments.

  Daystar, you should scan some of the photos and then come back and share them here. We'd love that. I got a pocket Kodak instamatic for my 14th birthday. No one was safe from my lens after that. It's so much fun for a child or teen to chronicle their history with pictures.

  Restrangled, I didn't snow until I was four or five years old. I lived in Mobile, Alabama, there on the gulf coast. I was so excited that when I couldn't find my shoes, I decided to run outside without them. My mother stopped me as I ran through the door. All of the sudden I was airborne. We made snow people and threw snow balls. We played into the dark of night. I recall the snow being up to my knees in snow, by the mimosa tree in my neighbor's yard. Mom sat inside at our picture window and did a water color of us kids playing.

  I imagine that when the blizzard of the early 90's hit the entire eastern seaboard and we got several feet of snow in Atlanta, my kids have similar memories. We were snowed in for a week. Since I had lived through blizzards in Chicago at 18 and 19 in 77 and 78, I went to the store and was well prepared for the several day power outage. We had a generator and could watch the VCR and cook in the crock pot, as well as bbq.We had a good radio and plenty of batteries, candles, etc. We bought Mary Chapin Carpenter's tape with Passionate Kisses on it. We helped all our neighbors and fed the birds. My ex husband even helped put our neighbor's house fire out. Lots of work for us as the adults, but still a lot of fun.

  Solo, your gran sounds wonderful. The adults who don't smother their inner children, they make the best parents and grandparents. Blackberry pie. I recall going blackberry picking as kids and my sister making us pies with them. One time we had to cross a stream on a fallen tree. I was afraid to cross because I might fall in. Guess what, I did fall in!
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  Sad emo

  I haven't found any specifically happy or magical childhood memories yet, they're still buried somewhere

  But I can always remember the sunshine and feeling the warmth on my face. That's good enough for now
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  daystar

  FHN, that's a great idea. I may just do that!
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  myelaine

  I remember getting a box of cool 70's clothes and real platform shoes from my step-dads cousin Genie Dupuis...she was so beautiful and chic I wanted to be just like her or her sister Linda...auntie Linda(I called her) was so gentle with her kids and had it so "together"...I remember that I would still like to be like that...

  love michelle
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  Leolaia

  The most magical memory I have from my early childhood is a dream I had one night when I was 5 or 6 years old. It is still to this day the most vivid, intense memory that causes the emotions to flow forth. It was also literally magical...it was a combination of Cinderella and Valentine's Day in a magical Candyland type place, being dressed in a beautiful gown, going to a palace where there's a Valentine's ball with a crescent moon outside and my sweetheart to dance with, and there were lots of Valentine's mints and treasures, and most strikingly, my synesthesia was in overload and my complex unfamiliar emotions which I had never experienced before formed fuschia colors that I saw floating about....it was the most colorful and beautiful dream.

  In the late '90s there was a made-for-TV movie with John Larroquette called the Tenth Kingdom, and there was one kingdom or place that Wolf met up with the main characters that was really magical, and I thought... that was the place from my dream. LOL
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  stillajwexelder

  waking up on christmas morning, hours before the winter sun ignited - when I still believed in Santa - God those days were magic
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  Mulan

  My grandparents took all of their older grandchildren camping every summer, for two weeks (1950's and early 60's)............sleeping in tents, cooking over the campfire before they got a Coleman stove, and I remember being about 7 when I got invited to go. Those were the best summers of my life. My cousin, Sharon, was 3 years older than I was so she was always there, and was my best friend my entire life. My grandparents were old, in their 70's, so I always think they were amazing to do that at their ages back then. There were always 6 or 7 of us to ride herd on.

  Grandma cooked such great food, in huge volume, and I still marvel at the pancake eating contests she allowed between my brother and my boy cousins. Grandma snored so loud that one year someone put a sign on our tent, complaining about how loud she snored, complete with a sketch of sawing logs. Whenever she said she was going to bed, Sharon and I and the girl cousins would run for the girl's tent. We had to get to sleep before she did.

  We went to Twanoh State Park, on Hoods Canal, in Washington State. We had hiking trails, swimming with a raft and diving boards, boat rental, paddle board rentals, a great playground, with swings, slides and a merry go round thing, all those things are gone now because of lawsuits I think. When it rained, we would pack everything up and go to one of the outdoor kitchens, that were really open sided cabins, built forever ago by the CCC. We would build a huge fire in the fireplace and grandma would cook over the wood stove at one end, and the cousins would play games. Later they built a tennis court and when we were teenagers, we would have dances on the tennis court until one of the adults in our camp would come and make us go back to camp. We were JW's but they were pretty easy on us, for the most part.

  Great memories.
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  JWdaughter

  I have a lot of great memories. One that popped to mind was when I was a little kid and we used to go east of the mountains (WA state has major industry west of the mountains and large cities. East of the mountains is one med. city and lots of agriculture/orchards)So we went east of the mountains, probably near Ellensburg and brought home fruit-lots of peaches and pears and such. I remember sitting in the back of the truck, going over Snoqualmie pass, still seeing snow at the summit while eating sweet warm peaches with the juice running off my chin. And the next few days my mom frantically canned peaches and pears, and we ate lot of sandwiches cause the kitchen was a mess. Good times! Peach pie, peaches and cream (best thing ever in the late summer/fall)peach preserves (ok, I made that, my mom never did, but its yummy!!)
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  FlyingHighNow

  Sad Emo, isn't strange how different things as simple as the sunshine and its warmth, feel so different to children. Only once in a while am I granted that sensation, now that I am grown. I hope you will sometime remember more. Until then, bask in that sunshine.

  I remember sitting on the parquet wood floors, by a window, in a sunbeam that made a bright, warm circle around me. I'd watch the dust dance on the beam. I'd sit there forever. I'm sure that was as close to heaven as I could have been. I looked like the baby Trixie in the Hi and Lois comic strip. She sat in the sunbeams, too.

  FHN, that's a great idea. I may just do that!

  Great, Day, I'm looking forward to seeing them.

  Mye, do you have any pictures of you in the clothes? You could always draw some of them and scan them. I used to get clothes like that from my brother's future wife. I could always smell her perfume on the clothes. One time she gave me black satin, with tiny white star print on it, hot pants and an ankle length vest made of the same fabric. She wore silver glitter wedge soled, platform sandals with it. My feet smaller than hers, so I didn't get those.

  Leo, what an amazing dream for a little girl to have. Your description makes me think of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds or the animation in the movie Yellow Submarine. I also recall a cartoon show called Here Comes the Grump from the 1960's. There was a princess who was always trying to find the crystal key to her kingdom. She would go through worlds like the one you describe. One of them had a lemonade river, with cork people floating in it.

  Stilla, Christmas was magic for me, too. It was the only time I remember my parents truly seeming happy together. One of my favorites was when we got to go to Midnight Mass, at Trinity Episcopal Church, and then come home and open one present before nodding off to sleep.

  Mulan, how amazing that your grandparents could give you such a gift when they were into their 70's. Washington is so beautiful, too. I can imagine the woods where you camped must have been gorgeous with the evergreens that grow there. The world was so much quieter and peaceful then. For some reason, your recollection makes me think of the camp Haley Mills attended in the Parent Trap. It also brings to mind the camp scene at the end when they "submarined" their dad's fiance. I can taste the fish.