This is my first blog entry…how exciting...so I thought I would do the thing that I do most often…think about the past. Particularly my childhood. I have to admit, I had a WONDERFUL childhood. Loving home, wonderful sister, not a care in the world; which is probably why when my adult life gets too “adult-like” I think back to easier times.

My favorite childhood memories always involve being outside with my parents or my grandparents. I grew up in a very small town and there was not much “man-made” fun to do. No amusement parks or Chucky-Cheese, so we made our own fun. My sister and I would spend our summer days at my Granny’s house, which was always an adventure. She literally lived on the side of a mountain. I think that is why I love to hike….even though I totally get out of breath now as opposed to when I was 10 years old. We would pack a sandwich and an empty cup. Then I would put a leash on Flip (my granny’s dog) and we would be off. The first thing on our agenda was to find an appropriate walking stick (yeah, our hikes were not that strenuous, but we sure looked cool carrying a HUGE stick). We would hike behind my great-grandmother’s old home while my granny told us stories about her childhood. We would continue walking upward while my grandmother told us what trees, plants, flowers were growing around us. We would then pass the turtle pond….which was basically a big pile of mud with lots of turtles. I thought it was the coolest thing ever that turtles had there own pond. Then we would reach our final destination, a spring of water that was nice and cold and yummy to drink (hence the empty cup). Many times our entire family would go, grandparents, parents, etc. It was wonderful. We used to crave our names on a tree that my dad and his brothers had craved their names on. My sister and I would hike further up the mountain to the ridge line and race back down to the spring. These memories are some of my favorite.

My grandmother lost her battle with cancer when I was in 7^th grade and we still hiked that same trail for a while, but it just wasn’t the same without her. The first Christmas without her was almost unbearable until my mom decided we should go on a winter picnic (something my granny would have loved). Mind you, there was probably 1-2 feet of snow on the ground, but we decided to go. We packed tomato soup in a thermos, some sandwiches, hot chocolate and went to a near by playground (we couldn’t go very far due to the icy roads). There we were bundled up beyond recognition, sitting have steamy tomato soup in the snow. IT WAS AWESOME. It is now a family tradition….every Christmas there is a winter picnic.

What are memories that make you smile?