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Childhood Memories

A few days ago my sister and I were reminiscing about our childhood on Twitter and I decided that it would make a good post. So here goes:

What we remembered was in the cold Chicago winters curling up with an afghan and reading all day. For supper we would have hot garlic bread and hot cocoa. We would be reading The Bobbsey Twins or Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. I was into The Hardy Boys because of Shawn Cassidy. For some reason I just loved him. Of course, now I'm like "what was I thinking...." I even had a gigantic poster of him on my wall and would kiss him every night before bed. lol. "what was I thinking..."

And when I say we, I mean the whole family; both my sisters and mother too. We are readers. Still are. I don't know why my kids aren't. Well, Trisha will read only if she's bored to death. The other 3 will not touch a book.

What else do I remember.......animals. We had several animals that never lasted. My mom would always get sick of them and get rid of them. We had 2 Boston Terrier's at one time when my parents were still together. Toby & Peanut. One day they got into a fight in the back yard and Toby got his eye knocked out. It was just hanging there and was disgusting. So he got his eye sewn back in and was forever scared. I think my dad took them with him when he left. We also had a bulldog named Max. And then Lou Lou. We had a 30 gallon fish tank with several fish. We had birds, rabbits, and a rat named Rosie once. We even had some ducks in the basement. That bright idea was my cousin Ricky's. I think he stole them from our local park. They didn't last long. We also had hamsters, and gerbils. I don't know what else. Of course, this was not all at the same time.

Our grandparents lived on the next block from us and we would always visit them. There was a little boy named Dougie on the corner that was my sister Jennifer's age. They would always ride their big wheels together. And then there was the "Grand Canyon". Don't ask me who came up with that name. It was just a series of tunnels that went under the train tracks and came to a pond of some sort and then some sort of playground. It was very dark and damp and scary for a kid. There was a bend that looked like a dinosaur skeleton that would scare us to death. So that was a source of many dares amongst us friends. Oh, and there was Charlie who lived right there next to the "Grand Canyon". And then there was Gloria. We will save her for another day. That is story in itself.

Right in front of our house there was a dead end street with many more friends and memories and at the end of the block there was my best friend, Tony Poe. The next block over was The Drews and the movie theater, The Tivoli, where you could see a movie for $1.50. I had another best friend, Michelle Mack. We found each other again on Facebook earlier this year.

And me and my sisters loved to play "school" and "office." We had our little boxes that we kept our supplies in. And we played "clubhouse" with girls down the street who visited their grandparents every summer.

Of course, there are many more memories. I will save them for another day. Hope you enjoyed the trip down my memory lane.

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