What is your happy or comforting memory from your childhood?

by MissFit 12 Replies latest jw experiences

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  MissFit

  When I think of my childhood I tend to organize my memories based on the houses I lived in.

  The house I remember the most was the house on the hill when I was 6. I can still picture it in my mind. It had a big porch with a porch swing. My mom used to cuddle me and sing to me as the swing gently rocked to and fro.

  When I was living with my foster parents, I would cling to that memory of my mom and I on that swing and the feeling of love and safety that surrounded me. The foster parents would tell us how awful my mom was and we were not allowed to talk about her, but I had that memory they could not take away.

  That house on the hill was the last house my whole famiy was together. I lived there a short time but most of my clear child hood memories involve that house.

  Did you have a memory or place that comforted you or made you happy?
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  scratchme1010

  Did you have a memory or place that comforted you or made you happy?
  

  I used to spend some time with one of my sisters in her bedroom, talking and playing. Then also playing with my little sister when she was a baby. Nothing outside those walls even existed.
  
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  MissFit

  I'm glad you had something good to remember.

  My house on the hill was something I could hold on to when things got bad. Sometimes it was the emotions I remember more than actual events. I felt safe in that house. But as I look back as an adult, I realize there were so many things going on around me that as an innocent child I didn't reconize the signs of disaster that was lurking over our heads.

  This house was in a little town about 20 minutes away from a bigger town that had a KH. Mom was studying with a couple of JWS at the time and they would come over to the house for our study.

  I remember sitting on the living room floor on my knees while my mom would brush my long hair and wrap it up in rag curls. She would put this goop on each section before she wrapped it up. This was our ritual on Saturday nights for Sunday meetings.

  Later on I would bring these memories up to comfort me. They were the only pieces of my mom I had left. After that house , my mom got "sick"- had a mental break down and was never the same. Sad to say she had shock therapy(this was in the 60's ) and she lost alot of her memories.

  These memories helped me reconnect with my mom when I was in my teens. We were separated for 7 years.

  Do you have fond memories you hope your children remember?
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  Wasanelder Once

  Whenever I did something outrageous and funny as a boy, my mom would say my name followed by "you idiot". She never said it to me without a laugh. She actually did that all my life. After she died I wondered why I would say it to myself on occasion. I came to realize it wasn't negative, it was a source of comfort because it brought back my mom to me. I would gladly be her idiot if she were here with us once again. I have a feeling I have just opened the floodgates of posters calling me "you idiot". Oops.
  
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  LongHairGal

  MISSFIT:

  Comforting memories of my Roman Catholic childhood are getting together with relatives which included aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. These occasions also included Holidays. I am sorry all the older people are gone except for one aunt and uncle and the cousins.

  When I started my "fade" from the sterile unloving JW religion, I made sure I reestablished contact with some of the older relatives before it was too late. I'm forever grateful I did.
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  HereIgo

  Basically any time before my mom forced the JW religion on me at age 16 and now we haven't talked in years.. I have good memories waking up before sunrise going fishing with my dad, road trips, playing old school jams in the car with my mom talking about normal stuff, back when life was simple. Good times.
  
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  MissFit

  I actually have a couple of pre-JW memories. I remember going to Church with my mom. (She used to be Catholic)

  I remember thinking that god lived in the church, so when the priest came to the pulpit, i asked mom if that was god.

  I was a budding apostate at 5 years old. I remember going with my preschool class for a Easter Egg hunt. I gathered the eggs, ate the candy and left my Easter basket on the bus. No evidence - without the Easter basket it was just candy.

  We had a birthday cake with lollipops instead of candles -no candles not a birthday cake, so i ate some.
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  MissFit

  LonghairGal: i am glad you reestablished relationships with your nonJW family. Memories can build connections even after time had passed.

  HereIGo: I'm sorry you lost touch with your family. I am glad you have fond memories of your childhood. Maybe one day you will reconnect.
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  Still Totally ADD

  I live out in the country on a lake. That lake was my escape from the cult as a child. I would swim, fish, ice skate, run bank lines, sail a boat and even kissed my first girl on that lake. It was not until now did I realize what a safe haven that lake was for me as a child in a cult. Still Totally ADD
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  MissFit

  I am glad you had a safe place to go. I hope the memory of that lake brought you comfort as an adult.

  I have memories of other houses that were not as safe or comforting. Those ones i lock away.

  As a parent i tried to make safe happy memories with my children.