Friday, August 17, 2007

Memories

Here is a compilation of memories and experiences I enjoyed while I was growing up:

Snowy: When my youngest brother, Matthew, was 3 or 4 (he's 16 ish now) he always wanted his name to be "Snowy." Whenever we played any games, he was always Snowy. Imagine a chubby-cheeked little blonde boy saying, "I wiss my name was Snowy." So cute.

Butterflies: This relates to the "Snowy" one. When my siblings and I were little, we'd name every butterfly we saw. All of the white butterflies were "Snowy." All the orange Monarch butterflies were called "Fireball." I think we thought that there were only 2 butterflies in existence.

Mush Mush: When I was about 6 or 7, and my brother, Michael, was 5 ish, we made up a game we called, "Mush Mush." It was modeled after the show "Lassie" which we had never actually seen. Michael played the sled dog, Mush Mush, and I played the girl owner... I don't think there was a name for her. We came up with a theme song that was to the "Lassie" tune- except I don't think the "Lassie" theme song has words. Not that it mattered. Our theme song was just "Mush Mush, mush mush mush mush." Sung by me in a weird old man voice. The best part of the theme song is that we posed for it. "Mush Mush" sitting at my side with my hand on his head- both of us there facing the wind in our front yard. It was classic.

President: My brother reminded me the other night about this game we used to play called, "President." It wasn't very accurate, but it was fun while it lasted. One person would be the President and sit with a "desk" (a box, usually) in the closet under the stairs, which was the designated office of the President. Everyone else playing would have to follow the President's orders- like running errands. One of which was always getting the President a pickle. We had to take turns a lot being President, I mean, who wants to be the President's "Pickle Fetcher" the whole time?

The Field: This was the greatest, most imaginative game Michael and I ever invented. The field behind our house was an array of different cultures, creatures, landscapes, and adventures. It was so real- even in my memory it seems like it was real. Before entering the magical world in the field, we had to spin around 3 times on a man-hole cover that was in our backyard. Our names then changed to Cindel, Leia, Luke, and whatever George Lucas characters we could think of. We had a magical rock that was a safe haven from the giants and swamp people. The dried canal bed was a cursed river that would pull you under and to the other end of the field where the giants lived. In the east there was the Swamp village- where if you were wearing green- you would get kidnapped by the swamp people. And of course in the South there was the Ewok village, where we'd go visit the Ewok families that lived in giant dirt mountains. I still remember exactly where everything was and what everything meant and did. I'd gladly give a tour to anyone that wants to explore The Field.

Hide & Seek: This wasn't the hide and seek you play by hiding under beds or behind chairs. It was extreme. It was amazing how big our house seemed when we created so many creative ways to hide. Michael was the stealthiest at the game, climbing on top of the washer or counter and standing as still as possible in the dark so nobody would spot him even at eye level. I would disguise myself as a garbage bag or laundry basket to camoflauge myself from whoever was "It." My brothers were also very good at making themselves small enough to fit into toy kitchen cupboards and hide there.

Dragon: Dragon was a game we played in the evenings when our parents were watching TV, reading, talking, or being occupied by something other than us. We pretended that the adults were the "Dragons" and we had to sneak past them, and spy on them without being seen or heard. We devised complicated escape plans and secret signals. It was like being a Navy Seal.. sort of.

Talking Carpet: Michael and I used to pretend that we could hear the carpet talking. We'd put our ears on the floor whenever Matthew was out of the room and listen to him through it, pretending it was the carpet. It only ever worked with his voice. I guess our carpet was just a kid.

The Car Game: For some reason, we always thought the sneaky games were the most fun. We used to wait in our front yard for cars to come, and when they did, we'd yell, "car!" and hide behind something before we got hit by the car's goop. For instance, if we weren't hiding behind something when a yellow car drove by, we'd get hit by mustard, a blue car, and we'd get hit by water. The worst was the UPS truck. It meant death. This one really was scary because my best friend used to tell me that the UPS truck really did kidnap little kids. What can Brown do for you?

Dat Dat Doggie: When Matthew was really little, he was afraid of dogs, but tried to be brave when he saw one. Whenever a dog was around he would shout, "Dat dat doggie!" So that it wouldnt hurt him.. or something like that. It was cute, nonetheless.

Swastika: One time when my cousins were over and we were preparing for battle, we decided that we needed a flag for our army. I was young enough that I didnt know what a Nazi exactly was, but old enough that I had seen all of the Indiana Jones movies and had seen the Swastika used by the bad guys, so I drew it on a piece of paper and put it on our playroom door. My dad questioned me a lot that day after we played that game.

I probably have a million more games and things in my head, but can't exactly think of them right now. Hopefully Michael can remember some and help me out on this one.

Peace and Love
Hee Hee
(another memory: my brother couldn't say "Sissy" when he was little, so "Hee Hee" became my name ,and later, my nickname.)

No comments: