Memories Of Days Gone By

The idea for this post was taken from a friend's blog. The idea was to write down all of one's memories of childhood and times far gone so as to have them on record.

I thought it was a magnificent idea and that I would do the same. 

Having lived in China for the last four years I have disassociated myself with many things that would cause me to think of childhood memories, ie: familiar places, faces, smells, sounds, etc. It is, in these next paragraphs my attempt to rack the hidden spaces of my brain and soul to recall those past times. 

So here goes, in no particular order, unedited and fully emotionalized:

• I remember when the leaves in the ditch in front of my house would pile onto one another, soggy and smelling of only the smell that smelly leaves in the fall can have. I would pile them up in front of the culvert, for secretly I had always wanted to crawl into damp darkness of the culvert but never dared to. Piling the leaves in such positioning saved me from having to make the choice. 
• I remember one Christmas morning waking up and everything felt so fresh. I ran around and rang the bells that hung on the doorknobs, feet bare on the floor, taking in the smells of early morning Christmas. 
• I remember in grade 3 making the coolest looking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle out of those connecting blocks at recess and everyone thinking I was so cool. At the time I was surprised I had been able to pull it off as at home I was only allowed to watch Sesame Street and the like. Making big birds out of building blocks would've been easy but may have not garnered the same awe and respect from fellow students. 
• I remember one summer's day going to the Bunbury strawberry festival and winning a Bunbury Tshirt that was 4 times too big for me. I wore it nonetheless and felt so proud of my Tshirt. That same day I went over to my friend's Darrell's house and got a bag of beef flavoured Noodles from his mom. Best. Day. Ever. 
• I remember venturing into the dusty and spider filled clubhouse in our backyard only to have the door close and lock behind me and my older brother C relentlessly poke me with sticks from both windows from the outside. I can still feel the feelings of utter helplessness and fear. 
• I remember the time at the construction site where the older Stewart's live on Carriage Lane finding the goldmine of 20 or so empty pop bottles. The guilt at the time was drowned in the excitement and ensuing sugar high of buying hundreds of one cent candies. 
• I remember when Lo Foods was Lo Foods. It was summertime and I was in the store with my mother and younger sister D.  I spotted 20 dollars on the ground at the spot where the cashier was. I picked it up and looked around to see if there was an owner and then looked at my mother who let me keep it. I immediately went to the candy bin and with my younger sister D we picked the kind of candies that you weigh in those see through plastic bags. I still remember us popping candies as we turned the bend at the Rankin Park complex. 
• I remember shopping carts always jutting out at different angles from the pond that was next to Rankin Park. (Who would go and get them out?!)
• I remember my deep fear of Rankin Park, always walking quickly by to avoid eye contact with the place and anything that may live in there. 
• I remember my walks down Carriage Lane with Taboo and waving to the man in the red van. He would always wave back and I always felt soo good when he did. I learned later on that he passed away - from what I'm not too sure. 
• I remember old man Peters from across the road giving me a plant to bring home and give to my mother. I was so happy to be the carrier of this gift and had thought that my mother would be tickled pink with delight as to receive such a nice gift. She had quite a different reaction, refusing to accept it and putting me in the position to return it to him. Head down, terribly embarrassed and really rather confused I did just that. 
• I remember in April of every year in walking home from the bus stop that the melting snow in front of the Carlton's yard was always mixed in with eggshells and chicken bones. 
• I remember racing the Carlton boy on my bicycle down Tanton Drive when I was about 7 or so. I remember clearly winning and to this day still think that I won fairly. 
• I remember the way the stars would come after a hot summers day. How fresh and high they'd be in the sky. The smell of the summer's air and the feeling of ease it always brought to me. 
• I remember when doing my paper route the joy I would take in thinking of myself as a 4x4 all terrain vehicle - walking over grass, dirt, snow and all other obstacles thinking that having two legs connected to two feet with a good pair of shoes was really unstoppable. I still feel this way. 
• I remember how creepy I always thought the sales people at Radio Shack at the Charlottetown Mall were. 
• I remember making friends in grade one with a girl name Terry. We agreed to be good friends one day on the schoolyard by the jungle gym but then soon found out that girls and guys in grade one ideally don't befriend one another. We went out separate ways and to this day have never spoken again. 
• I remember how in grade 3 when I was on the top of a snow pile my big brother pushed me down forcefully, kicking snow on me as his friends stood in the background laughing. I felt really let down. 
• I remember the taste of cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches and how we'd make large batches for the potlucks for church on some Sundays. I don't remember church at all, but the sandwiches I do. 
• I remember in grade 6 being extremely sick but going in and doing my science fair presentation on Static Electricity anyway, mucus, popcorn, balloons and all. After doing huge amounts of prep and practice I easily won the first prize but ended up splitting it with the handicapped girl in the class who I believe hadn't even completed her project. That was when I started to understand the flawed school system of purposely special attention to those with handicaps. 
• I remember waking up early just automatically and going down to watch the cartoons. My younger sister D would often join me. On some mornings if it was especially early I'd find my father in his beige bathrobe sitting in the living room in his reclining chair all quiet and such, wondering what he was doing. Now I know that he was meditating. 
• I remember dipping fingers into the bird baths on hot summers days when the grass was freshly mowed wondering how many birds had drank that day. I also always remarked at how the grass grew long around the very edges of the bird bathes - as the lawn mower could not reach those limits. 
• I remember saving up and buying my first CCM bike from Canadian Tire. It cost $220.00, an unthinkable amount of money back in that day. I was racing down Mason road one day and when cornering really quickly into a driveway I discovered that one needs to slow down first before turning and spun out of control - hitting the asphalt and rolling, propelled by some force, rolling again and again on the asphalt. I felt so let down by my bike, so frustrated as I got up, scraped and ashamed I walked bloodied home never to tell this story until now. 
• I remember how excited I was every time that Irene came over to pay my mother a visit, for visitors were very seldom. I would walk around the house with them as they talked about the plants and flowers, basking in the morning sunlight and enjoying the feeling of my mother's friendship with Irene. 
• I remember how excited I was sitting the back seat of the Taurus station wagon with my little sister D driving to Montreal. Our level of excitement did not wane for the entire drive as we waved at motorists from our special perch in the back. 
• I remember walking down East River Drive with Gent and my friend Kyle Garland. Gent started barking loudly at a middle aged woman who exclaimed loudly "Put a muzzle on him!" To which I quickly replied without due thought "Why don't you put a muzzle on?!" The lady was shocked. Kyle and I kept on walking in hysterics. I think this was when we were 15 or so. 
• I remember clearly walking towards the Quik Pick when I was 9 that my entire life was out of order. How I wished when I was older that I would be tall, handsome and charming. How I wished people that people would like me. Suffice to say that little JK would be most pleased with the results of big JK. :) 
• I remember playing basketball in the torrential rain of a summer's thunder and lightning storm. Calling it "rain ball" and having such a good time together getting wet and throwing a ball around.
• I remember talking to the horses on Clifton for 10 minutes at a time, finding them such avid listeners. 
• I remember eating those "honey" flavoured flowers at the coaxing of my older sister D. 
• I remember having a whispering competition with my older sister D and whispering the word "elephant," her getting it right and me lying saying I didn't say "elephant" to avoid a sure loss. 
• I remember watching America's Funniest Home Videos on summer nights with my little sister D. 
• I remember when I was 7, the feelings of fear I had when I thought my family had abandoned me at Victoria Park. The feeling of adventure as I walked back home, the feeling of quenching thirst as I stopped for a glass of water at the drive thru window at Wendy's by the bridge and the feeling of accomplishment as I rounded the turn into our driveway - just to have the feelings go full circle and have the feeling of fear instantly return as my mother and father ran out of the house towards me. 
• I remember when my Uncle Andre visited and we sat outside on the picnic table, the plates of burger patties, processed cheese, tomatoes and pickles. The bottles of mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise and relish. The smell of smoke from Andre and his wife mixed with exotic smelling perfume. How I felt so much love and interaction with everyone at the table that day. 
• I remember once in the basement when the entire family was watching David Suzuki's Nature of Things on "Genes" I found it fit to make a joke in reference to my "jeans," the ones I was wearing. Nobody found it funny and I was told to shut up. I felt immature and excluded. 
• I remember going to the "Armchair Travel" group at the Confederation Library as a kid on Sundays and seeing so many foreign people, tasting foreign food and having such a fascinating time. No wonder I am where I am now. :) 
• I remember how there was a free KFC sandwich special at the Library and if you took out 5 books you would get a free sandwich. Our entire family took advantage of the situation and we had chicken sandwiches for several weeks on end. It was like going from a drought of fast food (never really having eaten it before at the time) to a flood of flavour packed, brain numbing, tongue tingling fun. And then drought again after the offer ended. 
• I remember Fudge-e-o's (or however they are spelled) and Oreo's after a hard fought eating of a meal (we would often have HUGE portions and rather strange blends and mish mashes of food). 
• I remember how my father would come home with a different joke everyday from work, with one of them one day being the classic: "what is black and white and read all over?" Can you guess? ;)

I'm going to write until here today as my brain is asking to return to reality. Fair enough brain, you win this time. But we'll be back for more childhood memories soon. 

Until next time, little JK is out. :)