If No One Had Told Me

I don't think I knew I had a bad childhood until I became an adult. It's just how life was. Also, I am sure there are millions of children who had a much worse childhood than I did. However, being in Christian circles, people are often shocked by some of the stories. Regardless, as life was happening, I think I enjoyed my childhood, so I think maybe I should cling to that.

Some of my favorite memories:

• I loved sitting at the bar with my dad, drinking coke with grenadine and cherries on a sword, while eating crunchy sesame bread sticks dipped in little pats of butter.
• I loved being with my cousins on Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. On Christmas, we'd create silly programs to perform for our relatives. We'd trade stickers on Easter and Thanksgiving.
• I loved going up north with my cousins and my uncle. We'd play cops on the 4-wheeler, or go sledding in the winter.
• I love all the time I spent with my grandma. It wasn't until she died, that I really started to contemplate what an amazing woman she was.
• When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, we lived on a corner house on Vance. My mom would go grocery shopping every Thursday night. I remember my dad would turn of all the lights in the house, and chase my brothers and I in the dark. He would crawl around and scare the crap out of us, and we loved every second of it.
• I loved watching my brother play baseball. I was so proud of him.
• I loved Friday night pizza, and drinking Faygo. That was the only time we ever got pop.
• I loved school. I was good at it. My teachers praised me beyond my own belief. Ms. Roseik and Ms. Good were two very influential people in my childhood. They believed in me, and I was drawn to them for their praise.