Memories

I don't have any memories of my father, Tim. In fact, the only thing I have from him is one picture taken when he was younger than I am now. I know he has strawberry blonde hair, and we share the same denim blue eyes. I am told that he is charming and intelligent, and could sell an Eskimo their own igloo.

The memories of my mother, Teri, are many moments shared talking. Some of my favorite times with my mother are doing the dishes after dinner. She would wash, I would dry, and we would sing. In my mind those moments and those songs sold 50 billion records. I also remember making my mother laugh like no one else could. Sometimes when her friends would come over to visit, she would have me act out my latest SNL skit. I used to try the silliest things just to get her laughing. I love my mother's laugh, and her singing voice.

I remember getting dressed up in frilly dresses and my shiny black church shoes, and going to fancy restaurants for dinner. My grandfather would quietly eat his steak, while gramie and I would tell stories to each other. Sometimes she would talk about her patients in the ICU, sometimes I would tell stories about playing at school, and sometimes we would just make up our own funny stories.

I remember getting a polaroid camera for my 5th birthday. I would take pictures of everything and anything. I would arrange all of the stuffed animals on my bed, take their picture, rearrange them, and take even more pictures. I would change my younger sister's clothes four times a day just to take pictures of her. I would try to sneak up on people to get candid photos, which was nearly impossible with a polaroid camera. I still have that camera, perhaps it's time to pass it on to my own aspiring photographer.

I remember learning to swim when I was about 8 years old, at State beach in Lake Havasu. Of course, there had been swimming lessons, but I didn't really pick up swimming. It was a big deal when I decided on my own to put my face in the water, and swim a few feet to shore. My poor gramie was walking out of the water at the time in front of me, and I bumped her so hard in her bum that she fell back into the water. She was pleased that I finally figured it all out, and we sat in the shallow water on the shore, just giggling. I remember the old jungle gym at the beach that was too hot to play on, but we would all dangle until it was too hot to hold onto the bars just to prove we were tough.

I remember when my mom married my step dad, and I felt like a princess in my lavender bridesmaid dress. I was a junior bridesmaid. I remember dancing with my step dad at the reception. I love my dad, (not step dad to me anymore). He would sing songs, and to this day I don't know if he just didn't know the words, or he just liked to make up his own words. It wasn't really Weird Al style, just made up his own sounds to go along with the music. He took us camping and fishing despite having two girlie girls for children. On one camping trip, I was the first one out of the tent in the morning, and was greeted with a rather large cow not one foot from my face. Of course, I screamed, waking the entire campsite. He didn't get mad, he just won't let me live it down. It's all in loving fun.

I remember when my dad's parents had their 50th wedding anniversary. I wore a dress that my gramie made for a prom my mother went to in high school. All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were there. We danced, and danced. There were pictures shared of when my grandparents were younger. The story goes like this....Grandpa was being set up on a blind date with a nice jewish girl whose parents decided she couldn't go out with the handsome christian boy. The jewish girl was a friend of grandma's, and sent grandma on the date instead. The rest is romantic history busy with 5 children and alot of grand children.

I can still remember going to the hospital when my little sister was born. I was so excited because even then I wanted a baby. I would rock her and sing to her whenever I was allowed. As we got older we shared a room, and a love for watching scary movies together late at night. We fought and laughed like sisters do. I remember with great fondness one silly dance we created to make our parents laugh. We called it the bees are coming. I don't find it necessary to share specific details, but it was truly fun and funny.

So many memories of so many people. The fondness of life is created in moments and memories saved like photographs, vividly pictured, kept close to the heart.