as kid everything was pretty much fun for me, despite everything going on outside my own personal bubble. i’m pretty family- oriented so a lot of favourite memories consist of my family. i can always remember thing so clearly and vividly it makes me have feelings of nostalgia just thinking about it.
i mentioned before how my siblings and i for the most part weren’t really allowed outside of the house because at the time things were really strict at home. the memories i do have would make the people involved embarrassed but it was all in good fun.
the first memory i want to share is the day my brother invented the ‘rollercoaster ride’. as corny as that sounds i’ve always been quite fond of my brother for being so innovative. i was about six or seven years old when my older brother, Hugh, and my eldest sister, Herschell, first talked about this magical and fun place called, “Wonderland”. my other sister, Harla, and i got so excited and we asked our parents if we could go but of course us moving to Canada seven years earlier would mean we were still adjusting or so they said. moving along, my brother told us that he’d make us a ride we’d never forget. back where we lived we had these long stair cases so my brother took two thick blankets and we all sat on it; me, Hugh, Harla, then Herschell. my eldest sister and my brother both grabbed onto each side while Harla and i raised our hands up. i know it sounds lame but thats probably one of my fondest memories.
another memory of mine would be the day Harla and i decided to sneak out of our house while my mom was showering to go to a garage sale. it’s like i said before, my siblings, especially Harla and i, were not allowed outside the boundaries of our home. we planned it not that well and not as thoroughly as we should have but we were determined to go to our first garage sale. we had saved up all the change that we could find which seemed like a lot to us at the time when in all actuality it was a mere dollar and fifty cents. we escaped to our backyard which was a connected complex and then we ran as fast as we could to the nearest complex exit. we ran until we were breathing deeply through our nostrils and out our mouths. it was four or six houses down and when we got there we had little time to choose what to get. i remember seeing all different types of things, in all honesty i was so amazed at everything laid out in front of me, granted i had never been at a mall but still, it seemed amazing. running out of time we had to quickly get back home when we got back to the exit my sister had to boost me up to climb the metal gate and then i had to let her in through the other side. running past every backyard to get to ours seemed like we were flying. by the time we got pass the screen door into our living room we were exhausted and our mom was already out of the shower, she yelled for us and we answered back we were fine. i remember running up to the third floor of our home and into our ‘office’ were we both showed what we had chosen as our first ever garage sale purchase. for some reason i can’t remember exactly what she got, but i had gotten (well to what seemed to me as beautiful) a sea shell heart shaped jewelry box. after that i hid it so well from everyone that i don’t even think i brought it with me when we moved.
i need to keep my memories shorter because the last one was too long. when i was younger i used to try to stay up late (which back then was really difficult for me to stay up for New Years if i did it was an accomplishment) and i would watch Jay Leno and David Letterman with my brother. i don’t really think i understood the adult jokes but i laughed whenever my brother did. i think that probably got pretty annoying after a while but i don’t think he minded. another thing that i remember is how my brother would try to make me and my sister into tomboys. Harla and i would mimic my brother and we would wear our socks up really high with long shorts and baggy tshirts and we would try to sweat as much as possible even if that meant running up and down the stairs a couple of times. we would actually cringe whenever we had to play ‘catch’ with my brother because it was more of him practicing how to whip the ball. surprisingly, i was really good at throwing but i was always scared of catching.. or not so surprising. hehe.
my last memory would have to be something that i find so embarrassing and hilarious at the same time and whenever my eldest sister remembers it she laughs at me. it was New Years and i really wanted to be just like her, despite my day time job of imitating my brother, as soon as i took a shower i would all of a sudden be really girly. anyhow, i can’t remember what my exact reasoning was but my sister had started plucking her eyebrows and i thought it would be a great idea to start that day. i calmly walked into the washroom looked into the mirror thought long and hard on how i wanted it to look like when i was done and then i picked up a razor. okay, mind you, i was like i don’t know, seven? (ooo ages six to eight were not good years lol) and i just wanted to be cool.. i also didn’t know how to use a razor.. hehe. i ended up shaving off half my eyebrow somehow and then spending the rest of New Years terrified that my mom would see what i had done. suffice to say she was not happy and my eyebrow didn’t grow back in time for photos that following week. that year, i wore purple in my school photo with a headband and barely two eyebrows.
