Remember When

These last couple of weeks have been pretty challenging on this ol' mom. We, as a family, have adjusted well to the new routine of the kids changing schools.  It actually is going great and the kids love their new school.  I must say though, the adjustment to new teachers+ the level of difficulty in the homework+ a very strong willed 4th grader + an impatient, easily frustrated, and strong willed mom= disaster! Whew! My mom never warned me of these troubled times. Well, if she did, I must have been absent that day in Parenting 101.  All of these struggles have caused me to recall my former carefree life as a child. 

I remember when...

I bopped around with my daddy, topless...yes...topless- just like he did, cut off jean shorts and all

I started school early at Gordon Ivey because my mom had nobody to keep me  and then I passed "some sort of test" that said I was "qualified" to move on- very complex- I remember fitting shapes into a plastic octagon ball.

writing my name as Leah Parker, Jr. on my papers

having hair that was very difficult for mama to manage and after trying beer, mayonaise, and Lord knows what else...she finally took me to get a true Orphan Annie perm.

becoming an aunt in the 3rd grade...man was I cool

crying just about everyday for the first month or so of school and making my older sister late for her classes frequently

watching my favorite television shows at night, George Jefferson, Sanford and Son, Good Times, and really getting lost in the moment- lying on the floor of our yellow tiled living room  propped on my elbows, feet in the air.  No worries!  Man I really miss times like this:)

playing daily with the neighborhood crew...Charlene, Debbie, Bonnie, Angel , and Merry

telling Gena and Lynn they weren't my mother because they consistently made Bonnie and I do all of the cleaning while mama was gone...eespecially Gena

getting into Gena and Lynn's high heel shoes while they weren't home.  We used to fight over the wooden soled wedges that could be worn very easily today

pretending to be solid gold dancers...yep...on that same yellow tiled floor

riding Debbie's mo-ped EVERYwhere...this was our transportation

surviving our first 3 wheeler

Mr Lantz letting me drive his old white chevy truck on old toomsboro road...I was maybe 10 or so;)

selling lemonade from our lemonade stand in the front yard

buying ice cream from the ice cream truck that used to round

going to the "Irwinton" fair

being the "tattler" because I was the youngest of the neighborhood crew...my punishment- I was always stuck with the BROWN m&m pillow, while they got to enjoy the lavendar and red; I had to watch for indians in the cherry tree we used to use as a hideout/tree house

I hesitantly return to reality...and realize how blessed I am when I remember...

my husband, who is now my laughter and care-free living

my peanut and my goober


Life is good!