I have so many happy memories of childhood and home:
Playing in the creek (on the condition that we were only allowed ONE change of dry clothes each day)
Dad making fires in the buck stove (this didn't happen often, but I was always fascinated by it)
Picking lilacs for Hannah's birthday....laundry baskets full. SO MUCH FUN!
Nick and Lou putting snakes in coolers and other odd places
Flour fights (as long as we cleaned them up) in the kitchen
The COLD, iron-y hose water in the summer
Building things out of sticks, moss, leaves, branches and (of course) jump ropes
Reading books up in the magnolia tree in the front yard, or the maple in the side yard
Nick asking "Why does this always happen to me?" every time he got hurt
Apple trees - blossoms in the spring and apples (just sometimes) in the fall
Cutting Christmas trees and greenery for the house (I even wound long-needled pine around the banisters one year...almost made me swear, and I never did it again!)
Putting baking soda paste on bee stings to take out the poison
Sand fights with Louie in the creek
Camping out up at the camp site in the woods
Putting my feet up on the ceiling while I laid on my bed (my room was under the roof/eaves)
Watching cars roll in down the lane and running out laying claim to one cousin or another (we used to fight over whoever was the baby...I love seeing those same cousins doing the same thing over my kids)
The list could go on and on. It's a safe place, and a place where I always felt loved (and still love to go home to). Not that my family is perfect...we're far from it. We're really open about most things (which in general is good), but we're pretty opinionated too (which can cause conflict).
But I went out to the valley with Bee, J, and Ben on Easter Sunday morning. We missed the first 15 minutes of the Sunday conference session, but I think it was worth it. Bee and I even got in the creek (the water was COLD!), and we picked some daffodils.
7 comments:
Those flowers are lovely! It's always so strange to see something growing wild that I've only ever seen in stores. I had a friend who just couldn't get over lemon trees when she came to AZ ("it's so weird that you just go pick lemons") and here I am drooling over your daffodils. I think everyone needs a place like the valley in their lives.
Okay, you forgot walking over to Gran's and as soon as we hit the spot that just missed the porch lighting from our house and Gran's house, running like crazy to get back into the light... or maybe it was just me that did that. I never liked walking home from Gran's in the dark.
HAH! I totally did that too. :-)
I have similar lists of happy memories related to my grandma's house near Mt. Hood, Oregon. Maybe there is something kindred about our spirits. I love the pictures.
You are cute and so is your family. :) I miss you.
Can I love Gran's house vicariously? Because I think I do.
It's always nice going home.
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