Childhood..

I have many memories of childhood. I can't place them in terms of dates...but they are there, in my brain. Some I remember more vividly than others...some I carry in my heart...some I keep little bits and pieces of like torn pages of a book.
I remember camping with my parents...the smell of campfire and dirt. I remember leaving for trips in the early hours of the morning..waking with anticipation and laying in my bed hearing the hushed whispered voices of my parents getting ready and packing the car. I remember baking and playing cards with my grandmother. I remember playing at my other grandmothers farm...throwing tiny rocks at the water spiders in the crick or picking her gigantic bouquets of Queen Anne's Lace. I remember watching the Wizard Of Oz every year with my mother...or the Miss America pageant..and the thrill of getting to stay up past my bedtime and snuggle on the couch with her.
I remember my parents divorce. I remember the deaths of my grandparents. I remember countless moves from countless homes and countless friends.
So not all my memories are good. But there are some.....

Earliest Childhood Memory:

We've already established that my timeline may be a little off. But I do have piercing and wonderful memories of napping...as a very young girl...on my mothers bed...in the early Spring. The air was crisp, the windows were open to let the breeze in, and the birds were chirping. The head of her bed was under the windows, and I layed on that bed watching the curtains blow and listening to the birds until I fell asleep...napping happily and blissfully. On that bed were sheets that I remember to this day....the feel, the smell, the colors. I studied and traced the flowers and dreamed of being a grown up and having a beautiful bed with flowered sheets.

That's my bed, with those sheets. And it's just as beautiful and blissful and wonderful as I remember it being from childhood. It's funny how some memories carry you through your life, and some just carry you off to sleep.
The trick to memories is to keep the good ones...and try like hell to forget the bad ones. Sometimes all it takes is a long nap, a set of vintage sheets, and a cool breeze through an open window.

See ya on the flip flop side.

XOX!