Sunday, November 21, 2010

Mooning the Camera and Other Memories

Inappropriate 13 year old comment of the day:

Sam: Guess what I’m gonna do sometime?

Me (thinking he’s probably going to say, ‘win the Nobel Peace Prize’ or finally ‘find those weapons of mass destruction'): What?

Sam: I’m going to go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and in the middle of the night I’m gonna cover up the ‘Jackson’ on the sign and replace it with ‘butt’.

Me (tearing up): I am so proud right now.

Childhood is a funny thing. We forget a lot. My brother will say, “Remember when I came into your room and found you rolling around in your crib with your poop?” No, I tell him. I don't remember that at all. Which is funny because it was just week ago. Ba-da-boom! Actually, that might have been one those memories that got blocked. Thank God we have our siblings to remind us of the good old days.

That’s when I tell him my memory of when we used to take baths together and what he would do with the shampoo cap. Right back at ya, Dave.

I tend to remember stuff from those early days when it was attached to a deep emotion: sadness, fear, excitement, joy, anticipation, anger. Sometimes stuff happened that was really bad, but as a child, you didn’t realize the extent of how bad it was. In hindsight, I now know that some of my friends were being abused in awful ways. As a kid you just don’t know what it all means.

Fear
9 years old
: I spent the night at Tracy’s house. In the middle of the night we heard yelling, screaming, things being thrown. I was afraid. My parents didn’t fight much, but when they did it was controlled and private. Minutes later, Tracy’s  dad (who I always feared. He was 6’5” and loud and mean) came in and yanked her out of bed. He pushed her into the living room and told her to pick who was right in the argument, mom or dad. I remember her crying and refusing to choose (smart girl, Tracy). I was scared shitless. All.night.long. I never went to her house again. Except when her dad was gone.

Joy
9-11 years old
: The “gang” from the neighborhood, a group of multi-aged kids from several streets nearby, joined up every summer night for rousing games of Ghost in the Graveyard and Capture the Flag. No shoes. Fireflies. Ice cream man. Falling into bed with grass stains on my knees and dirt under my nails. Perfection.

Sadness
14 years old: Our dogs went missing. It wasn’t like Maggi, a lab mix, to stray from our house. It was early morning and I had to catch the bus for school. I called for her. I searched. I found her dead in a ditch. I laid on the ground and sobbed. I missed school.  She had been poisoned by the Greek police who put down poison pellets that looked and smelled like dog food to kill off the strays in the area. That night, our poodle, Bulles (pronounced bull.ees. Means “mamma’s boy” in Greek), was on a walk with my dad. He picked up something in his mouth and within minutes was frothing at the mouth. We watched him die.

Excitement:
8 years old
: Grandma and Grandpa would drive to Maryland from Ohio every fall. They stopped at a bakery along the way and bought the most delicious pastries – cheese, cherry, apple. We never got pastries in our house, especially not for breakfast. My parents favored dry, home made granola bars, unsweetened Cheerios and fruit leather. Pastries were like crack to me.

Confusion
10 years old
: I sat on my front porch coloring. We lived on a cul de sac. I noticed a dude on a motorcycle circling the street. Finally, he stopped in front of my house and started touching himself. Ewww. I was old enough to know this wasn’t right. I ran inside, he rode away. My dad and I jumped in the car to find him, but never did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Getting on the recent blog bandwagon of posting childhood pictures (Emz, Marlene, Q on the Move),  I have a few to share:

I did pushups at an early age. How else did you think I got those abs?:

pushups

I was always up for a party:

partyhat

Some brotherly love. This is when we lived in Chicago. He embarrassed me so much with that talk of pooping in my crib, I had to hide my eyes:

meanddave

Third grade. The age of denim jumpers, braids and middle parted hair. That turtleneck needed a necklace or something.

3rdgrade

I pushed the limits from an early age. My poor friend. I made her do it. You can tell I’m really into it because I’m posing for the camera like, oh yeah, check it out. What was wrong with me? You may be wondering why I blocked it out. My body hasn’t changed tremendously since that time. It hit too close to home. And, in the interest of protecting my friend…I blocked hers out too. Butt…you get the idea.

butt2

First boyfriend, Casey. 5th grade. He was really into me. You can tell by the way he crosses his arms, rolls his tongue on the inside of his cheek (you know what that means). I only went for the guys who pressed their jeans. At least I had the “Farrah” hair going for me.

casey

My modeling days. Short lived.

model

7th grade. I’m in the yellow dress. The other blond haired girl is Lisa, my best friend. We lost touch when she moved back to the USA from Greece that year. A few months ago she found me on Facebook. She is a runner. She will be running in Boston in 2011, too. Time for a 7th grade reunion at the start line. I might wear the dress so she’ll recognize me. I love social media.

lisah

Also 7th grade. I used to love that striped shirt. I also love the “duh” expression I’m making with my mouth. I needed a serious makeover. And braces. Feel free to show this to your awkward teenagers so they know there is hope.

7thgrade

This is fun. Exposing embarrassing pictures of yourself and taking a walk down memory lane.

Reminiscing,

SUAR

25 comments:

  1. Oh man...you are so much braver than I...maybe one day I will show the chipped and nicotine stained teeth...but not yet. Some pretty scary stuff too...like something out of a Stephen King novel, which makes you think fact is stranger than fiction...thanx for the honesty SUAR

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  2. May I just say how honored I am to be included in brackets with the likes of Emz and Q? This is one of the best days of my life.

    Lovin the old-time pics. But that turtleneck needed a lot more than a necklace, sister!

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  3. Ghost in the Graveyard and going to bed filthy - priceless gems of childhood! Could have done without the dog story, though. Good to see you didn't lose your childish humor!@!

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  4. This was very entertaining! Great post!! I am very lucky to be able to share those memories with my brother and sister :)

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  5. My 16yo stepson mooned me not too long ago. Thankfully the room was not well-lit, ew!

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  6. hahahah. love the walking down memory lane. funny pictures. and funny you. clearly not much growing up has happened ;)

    like shawn said, thanks for the honesty with both the good and the bad. you are way braver than me!

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  7. My mom has most of my photos. Someday I will get them from her. I think I might have to look around to see if I have any.
    That dog story made me choke up. Brothers are a mixed blessing aren't they :)

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  8. Those pictures are great!!

    Yay for pastries!! Why do you think I have a Humpastry day? Ha ha!

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  9. Great post. Your fear and sadness comments were heartbreaking :( but the awkward photos helped make up for it ;)

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  10. I think you should go with your son to do this..it would make a great blog post, don't you think?!

    Great post. I felt all those emotions reading your memories.

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  11. I don't know how you got through losing your beloved dogs at 14. What an awful experience.

    Loved the opening line from your son!

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  12. you were a badass baby! uber cute too! *bite*

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  13. Awesome pics and great memories..it is amazing what we can retain and really stick with us.

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  14. I loved this post. Maybe because I don't have a GREAT memory, and it reminded me that although I have forgotten a lot, the memories I have are mostly good. But you're right, the deeper the emotion attached to it, the stronger the memories tend to be.

    Loved ALL the pics!

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  15. Great post - love the photos! Especially the moon shot! Hehehe - too funny!

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  16. Wow - that dog story was a gut-punch. Sorry you had to go through that, and even more sorry that you remember it so vividly.

    Those pictures are great. I think I'd be hard-pressed to find any pictures from my youth that didn't involve striped shirts. Gotta love the 70s.

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  17. Great, great post. Tears and laughter all in one....like a really good movie.

    Nothing like a full moon at 12:37pm in Texas I say. Can I say nice shot? Is that wrong? I am laughing so hard at these pics.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  18. Honest to GOD, I have not laughed at a post this loud in quite some time! Laughed and then gasped at the "sadness" segment.

    The pushup pic-too much!! The pressed jeans-Hilarious! Thanks for making my day!

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  19. Love your blog. You are one entertaining woman. :)

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  20. ROFLMAO! You.are.awesome. And braver than me!
    Ouch! Some of those memories are hard. Loosing a pet is the worst, and I always tell myself I never want to feel like that again. Then what do I do? Go and get another!
    Hope the week goes well!

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  21. Geeze how terrifying to be that 9 year old sleeping over! Did you tell your parents about it?

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  22. My baby pictures will NEVER see the light of day. Well, at least my middle school pictures won't.

    Sam is quickly becoming my new best friend.

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