ok, so, now on to childhood
updates from the last post are as follows:
that pictures of my grandparents is probably from about the time my grandparents got engaged (they were engaged for 3 YEARS).
my mother denies any memory of the proposed nick name of "Shelly"
ok, so, now on to childhood........
from the time i was born until the day i got married, i changed permanent location 23 times. no, that's not a typo. so i tend to remember my childhood in terms of location. sometimes i get the order mixed up a little, especially from the earlier years.
Let's start in Chicago.
Chicago is where i was born. And it is my understanding that it took less than a year for my parents to decide to escape the big dirty city and find someplace else to live. And i know that the first 4 or so years of my life were spent in Grants, New Mexico; Seattle, Washington; and Houston, Texas. I think the order was Chicago, New Mexico, Houston, Seattle, then back to Houston.
Here's what i actually remember:
In 1979, i was four years old, and we lived in Houston, Texas. I would turn 5 in September, so when the school year rolled around, my parents attempted to enroll me in kindergarten. But, as you all my know, if you're not five before the first day of school, they won't enroll you. So Mom and Dad went looking for alternatives, and they found a private school called Rainbow Farm Playschool. Rainbow Farm had 2 levels of kindergarten (as i remember it), and they would gladly accept me even though i was still only 4. And, by this time, my dad was pastoring a church in Houston called Satsuma Chapel, and i received either free or reduced tuition at Rainbow Farm because of an arrangement in which Daddy served as the school's chaplain.
Rainbow Farm was cool. They had horses and chickens and trampolines and geese, i think. I really liked going to Rainbow Farm, and i went there until about 3/4 of the way through 2nd grade. I made many friends at Rainbow Farm.
I remember kindergarten. Ms. Alice taped big examples of how to write our names onto our desks so that we could copy it onto our papers and learn it better. I remember during that time telling my mom that the weatherman on the news, whose name was Ed Something, must've always been the first one to write his name on his paper when he was in school, since his name was so short.
I remember learning the Star Spangled Banner. We sang it every day right after the pledge of allegiance, and whenever we got to the part that says "amber waves of grain," we just couldn't help ourselves, and we would all turn and look at one particular classmate and giggle because her name was Amber. I think we might've thought the song was talking about her, but we couldn't figure out why.
At our kindergarten graduation, we all had a memory verse that we would recite at our graduation. Mine was "Children, obey your parents, for this is right, Ephesians 6:1." I remember it just like that, to this day. The words, "Ephesians 6:1," are just part of the verse. My kindergarten graduation pictures is funny. I remember it because my mom told me to hold my diploma out in front of me instead of holding it by my side. I guess i didn't really know what she meant because the picture looks like i'm trying to punch someone; i'm holding it ALL the way out. And oddly, i have my bottom lip sticking out like Bubba in Forest Gump.
I had a best friend in kindergarten and first grade, whose name i can't just now remember. But she was from Jamaica, and once when she came back from a visit to Jamaica, she brought me a hand made straw purse. I think i kept it all the way through high school. She had the most beautiful long curly black hair, and i would always beg her to let it out of the braids whenever she came over to my house, so that i could see the beautiful curls.
I remember first grade, when Amber's dad (the Amber from "amber waves of grain") killed himself in Amber's bedroom. He shot himself in the head with a gun, and his parts were all over her bedroom ceiling. Daddy went over to clean up the mess so that the family wouldn't have to. Amber refused to cry. She just couldn't bear to experience the pain. She would just hold her breath until the feeling to cry went away. I don't remember much about Amber after that. I think she must've left Rainbow Farm.
In 2nd grade, i made a best friend named Lisa. She was beautiful, and she didn't have bangs. I wanted to cut off my bangs too, but my mom said it didn't work that way and that my forehead was kind of high for that anyway. Lisa lived near the same neighborhood as Ms. Alice, and she had a really big trampoline in the back yard.
While my dad was pastoring that church, Satsuma Chapel, the church moved, rebuilt, and changed its name to River of Life. River of Life grew a lot and a lot of people came to know the Lord there. I'll tell you more about River of Life in my next post.
that pictures of my grandparents is probably from about the time my grandparents got engaged (they were engaged for 3 YEARS).
my mother denies any memory of the proposed nick name of "Shelly"
ok, so, now on to childhood........
from the time i was born until the day i got married, i changed permanent location 23 times. no, that's not a typo. so i tend to remember my childhood in terms of location. sometimes i get the order mixed up a little, especially from the earlier years.
Let's start in Chicago.
Chicago is where i was born. And it is my understanding that it took less than a year for my parents to decide to escape the big dirty city and find someplace else to live. And i know that the first 4 or so years of my life were spent in Grants, New Mexico; Seattle, Washington; and Houston, Texas. I think the order was Chicago, New Mexico, Houston, Seattle, then back to Houston.
Here's what i actually remember:
In 1979, i was four years old, and we lived in Houston, Texas. I would turn 5 in September, so when the school year rolled around, my parents attempted to enroll me in kindergarten. But, as you all my know, if you're not five before the first day of school, they won't enroll you. So Mom and Dad went looking for alternatives, and they found a private school called Rainbow Farm Playschool. Rainbow Farm had 2 levels of kindergarten (as i remember it), and they would gladly accept me even though i was still only 4. And, by this time, my dad was pastoring a church in Houston called Satsuma Chapel, and i received either free or reduced tuition at Rainbow Farm because of an arrangement in which Daddy served as the school's chaplain.
Rainbow Farm was cool. They had horses and chickens and trampolines and geese, i think. I really liked going to Rainbow Farm, and i went there until about 3/4 of the way through 2nd grade. I made many friends at Rainbow Farm.
I remember kindergarten. Ms. Alice taped big examples of how to write our names onto our desks so that we could copy it onto our papers and learn it better. I remember during that time telling my mom that the weatherman on the news, whose name was Ed Something, must've always been the first one to write his name on his paper when he was in school, since his name was so short.
I remember learning the Star Spangled Banner. We sang it every day right after the pledge of allegiance, and whenever we got to the part that says "amber waves of grain," we just couldn't help ourselves, and we would all turn and look at one particular classmate and giggle because her name was Amber. I think we might've thought the song was talking about her, but we couldn't figure out why.
At our kindergarten graduation, we all had a memory verse that we would recite at our graduation. Mine was "Children, obey your parents, for this is right, Ephesians 6:1." I remember it just like that, to this day. The words, "Ephesians 6:1," are just part of the verse. My kindergarten graduation pictures is funny. I remember it because my mom told me to hold my diploma out in front of me instead of holding it by my side. I guess i didn't really know what she meant because the picture looks like i'm trying to punch someone; i'm holding it ALL the way out. And oddly, i have my bottom lip sticking out like Bubba in Forest Gump.
I had a best friend in kindergarten and first grade, whose name i can't just now remember. But she was from Jamaica, and once when she came back from a visit to Jamaica, she brought me a hand made straw purse. I think i kept it all the way through high school. She had the most beautiful long curly black hair, and i would always beg her to let it out of the braids whenever she came over to my house, so that i could see the beautiful curls.
I remember first grade, when Amber's dad (the Amber from "amber waves of grain") killed himself in Amber's bedroom. He shot himself in the head with a gun, and his parts were all over her bedroom ceiling. Daddy went over to clean up the mess so that the family wouldn't have to. Amber refused to cry. She just couldn't bear to experience the pain. She would just hold her breath until the feeling to cry went away. I don't remember much about Amber after that. I think she must've left Rainbow Farm.
In 2nd grade, i made a best friend named Lisa. She was beautiful, and she didn't have bangs. I wanted to cut off my bangs too, but my mom said it didn't work that way and that my forehead was kind of high for that anyway. Lisa lived near the same neighborhood as Ms. Alice, and she had a really big trampoline in the back yard.
While my dad was pastoring that church, Satsuma Chapel, the church moved, rebuilt, and changed its name to River of Life. River of Life grew a lot and a lot of people came to know the Lord there. I'll tell you more about River of Life in my next post.
Wow, you remember a lot of details. This is good reading.
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