favorite childhood memory

kristin, the scandanvian demi-goddess, in an attempt to break me from my current blog draught, asked me to post my childhood memory...

it took a long time to respond - and not because i'm lazy (well, not *just* because...)

no single memory stands out - and don't take this to mean i'm whining about having a bad childhood...quite the contrary - i think i had a great childhood...

so rather than recounting my single finest childhood memory, i'll recount a bunch of the most notable ones...

note:for the purpose of this post, since i never really left childhood, let's consider anything under 18

• the smell of the house on thanksgiving


• doing a reading in church for my first communion; my dad did one as well...


• 12 o clock mass and my dad insisting he did not fall asleep


• whiffle ball in the backyard


• watching pro wrestling on tv - my brother taking me to see it live in a high school gym


• playing tennis 5 or 6 hours a day with friends


• learning how to program computers from one of my favorite teachers ever (who teaches part time at my college now...)


• my parents filling up a little inflatable pool for me in the backyard


• dad's bbq chicken


• mom's chicken soup


• (with those 2 no longer available, no wonder i am a vegetarian now)


• my dog freaking out when anyone rattled a potato chip bag


• hating school until late in high school


• buying bowie's ziggy stardust for 3.99


• my first 8 track


• hearing bohemian rhapsody for the first time


• going to high school and pro sporting events with my brother


• riding to high school in a friends car that had no heater - and alternately spewed smoke


• intentionally losing at risk at a friends' house so i could watch tv


• having a crush on a friend's sister


• being an altar boy


• being with my mom as she cleaned the church


• walking down to my grandfather's house - who i am named after - the only grandparent i remember well


• playing football with friends


• reading the jim thorpe story a bunch of time and 100's of other sports' biographies


• being into the olympics


• the culture shock of going from catholic grade school to public high school


• finding out that nonreligious friends of mine were good people


• two words: laurie partridge


• all my pets


• my dad laughing at cartoons


• my mom - being my mom (struggled to put it better - can't)


• my sister's bleach blonde hair


• my brother's oldsmobile


• my other brother's crazy friends

i guess when the day is done, the memories surround the great parents and family i have...this was harder than i thought and slightly cathartic - try it...

i miss you mom and dad!


anyone else want to contribute a topic, feel free to leave it in comments...