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Thoughts For Thursday: Memories That Make An Impression – Part 2

October 21, 2010 · 94 comments

in Life, Thoughts For Thursday

A couple months ago, I wrote Memories That Make An Impression, and actually kind of forgot about it.  (Ironic, isn’t it?)  Then, the other day, I was sitting peacefully at the kitchen table when a very pleasant memory popped into my head.  It was a memory from childhood, and it felt like it just happened yesterday.  After the first memory, a flood of memories came back, and I thought I would share some more of them:

  1. Seeing my kids smile in their sleep for the first time.  When I had my first child, I didn’t even know that newborns impulsively smile, and it is adorable when they do.
  2. Driving on a real road for the first time.  My friend’s sister let us take turns driving her 30 foot long Thunderbird (I think it was) on side streets in our neighborhood.  For some reason, I was so fascinated learning that ‘up’ is right for the blinker and ‘down’ is left.
  3. Cashing my first paycheck.  I was 15 years old and I was working as a co-op student in the payroll department for our school district.  I went to a party store that I heard would cash the check for a minimal fee, and I was so excited to finally have a check to cash!  I just loved making my own money, and I always bought about 20 Swedish Fish each time I cashed that check.  I still love Swedish Fish.
  4. The horror of the last week of my father’s life.  To all you smokers out there, just please stop smoking.  I cannot describe how awful the end of life can be for someone suffering from Emphysema.
  5. The people that came to my dad’s funeral , or sent cards/flowers.
  6. The people that supported my blog when I first started, and encouraged me to continue.
  7. Playing Canasta with my mom on Saturday afternoons as a child.
  8. Stealing home and ending up with a massive bruise on my leg in one of the last softball games I played in during my senior year of high school.
  9. The miracle of birth.  I was never scared about delivery because I was just excited to meet that new person.  Seeing that baby for the first time is like nothing else in the world.
  10. Getting eyeglasses for the first time.  Unfortunately, it was right before kindergarten pictures.  I looked so bad, but at least I could see.
  11. Waking up from a nap after having Lasik surgery, and being able to see perfectly well.  I never had perfect vision my whole life, so it was astonishing to be able to read the news scrolling at the bottom of the tv screen, all the way from the couch, without contacts or glasses.

What about you?  Do you have moments in your life that you think will stick with you forever?  Just as a warning, I have a feeling that Part 3 might not be too far in the future…

I would love if you shared!

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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

Dianna October 21, 2010 at 7:45 am

I love reading your memories and can’t wait for the 3rd installment! Didn’t know you loved Swedish Fish. Me too – I could eat a whole bag! (Bet my dentist loves that…)

One memory that keeps coming back is when I flew to Detroit (only my 2nd time on a plane) by myself for my hiring interview, picked up a rental car and had to find my way to the New Center Area (getting lost once in a scary area), getting offered the job, meeting my new roommate, getting my first drug test, making it back to the airport and home that night…no cell phones so I only talked to my parents a couple of times during the day with updates. It was the best feeling that day – I felt like I could do anything!

I also remember the day that we met in POMS and sending messages to each other on an ancient machine… 🙂

It is fun to dredge up old memories!

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Kris October 21, 2010 at 8:01 am

Dianna: I bet that was exciting! Traveling to a new area, getting lost but figuring things out on your own. I have always lived in the Detroit area, so I never had that experience. I cannot imagine how great that must have felt!

Remember practicing to say ‘Kirstin’, all for nothing?

Guess who is most likely going back to POMS? Heaven help me…

By the way, swedish fish are the best! When I used to buy them, they were literally penny candy, and the cashier would count my fish out and put them in a little brown paper bag. The store was called ‘Annie-Os’, and the owners always dressed in overalls, like they lived in the middle of the country. It was so cute!

We will need to have Hippos and swedish fish soon!

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Nicole October 21, 2010 at 7:57 am

Oh dear… mine seem to be mostly R rated (and not for violence or swearing). Who knew I had such a dirty mind?

My G and PG memories make it easier for a stalker to figure out who I am IRL.

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Kris October 21, 2010 at 9:02 am

Nicole!!! Maybe you should start a new blog for yourself and divulge it all! 🙂

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Nicole October 21, 2010 at 10:10 am

HA! No.

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Money Reasons October 21, 2010 at 8:06 am

My daughter got glasses right before kindergarden too. I hated that she has to wear them!

Driving was surreal for the first time for me…

Downhill snow skiing on a black diamond for the first time was heart thumping! There weren’t any trees on the trail and it was just a big and steep slope. It felt like I was going to slip of off the earth! I’m not afraid of heights, but I was that day! Rappelling was exciting too, but not like that one ski trip.

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Kris October 21, 2010 at 9:03 am

MR – I would have a heart attack on a black diamond, although I bet it was exhilarating. Where was the rappelling? El Capitan at Yosemite? 🙂

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Squirrelers October 21, 2010 at 1:05 pm

Thanks for sharing these memories. I can imagine vicariously how some of those might have felt, from great to bad, depending on which one.

A few random ones that immediately came to mind for me when reading this post:

– Picturing my daughter yelling “DADDY!!!” when seeing me come home on day within the last couple of years, as she ran up to give me a big hug
– Honeymoon
– My mother playing catch with me in the back yard when I was a little boy of about 8.
– My own father and his current health problems/pain
– Listening to the song “Reeling in the Years” by Steely Dan, when the class one year older than me graduated. I randomly tend to remember things through association of songs with very specific events of a cetain time period. Don’t ask me why, but that happens sometimes. Actually, now that I typed that, I’m thinking of the Billy Joel song “Don’t ask me why”…ok that means I need to stop thinking of this:)

Anyway, your post is a nice reminder for us to remember that memories are created every day. Even if a particular day seems mundane and typical, it has the potential to be memorable for a lifetime, for whatever reason.

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Kris October 21, 2010 at 7:38 pm

Squirreler – Isn’t it funny how a song can bring back a flood of memories?

It is true, vivid memories can be both good and bad. I treasure them all though because even good can come from pain I guess. (At least I tell myself that so I don’t go insane.) I guess we learn from all experiences.

Thanks for sharing Squirrel!

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Evan October 21, 2010 at 3:39 pm

Fantastic Post. I have never really given thought to those times in life which stick with you and just reading this post gave me a few:

Past:
– My Grandma (who didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Greek…coming to live with us)
– My Grandma Dying

Recent memories:
– Finding out my Wife was pregnant
– Finding out we lost the baby
– Finding out she was pregnant again (She woke me up at 5am and I asked “who died” lol)

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Kris October 21, 2010 at 7:40 pm

Evan – It is amazing what memories flood my brain when I write these posts.

Sorry for the loss of your grandma, and the baby. Death is so difficult, and definitely not something you can get over easily, if at all. However, I am so glad you got your baby! Kids are the absolute best.

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First Gen American October 21, 2010 at 5:19 pm

I remember the doctor putting my son on my legs so that he could cut the umbilical cord and thinking..he feels heavy. (He was over 10 pounds) Then he cried and then I immediately started crying at the sound of his voice.

I remember the look of heartbreak in my uncle’s eyes when he found out his son emptied his bank accounts. My uncle was in the last stages of cancer and it broke his spirit. He was worried about his wife would survive (who was also very sick). He spent his last few weeks of life with lawyers trying to get it back. I wish there is a way I could have fixed his broken heart. It is something I will never ever forgive or forget.

I remember my grandmother cooking me scrambled eggs in Poland. I only met her once before she died. She was 84 and I’d never had eggs as good since.

Mostly bad memories are popping up today, so I think I’ll refrain from adding to the list.

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Kris October 21, 2010 at 7:44 pm

FGA- That is a horrible story about your uncle. How absolutely heartbreaking. I am so sorry for you and him. Nobody should have to live out their last days like that. How do some people live with themselves?

So what was the secret to your grandmother’s eggs??

I hope your memories get better- I didn’t mean to make you sad!

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First Gen American October 22, 2010 at 5:44 am

Super Fresh Eggs (like they just popped out of the chicken that morning) and lots and lots of farm fresh butter to cook them in.

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Aloysa October 21, 2010 at 11:13 pm

Great post! Melancholic… Made me think about my memories…I remember the first day when I got our cat and brought him tiny, skinny and scared into our apartment. I remember when my plane was leaving home and I looked down on the landscape and wondered when will be the next time I will see it. I remember first time seeing by husband and thinking “what a dork.” Gosh… your post brought up so many things…

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Kris October 22, 2010 at 2:28 pm

Aloysa – I hope it was mostly good things that came to mind…

It is amazing seeing the world from an airplane. Can be scary too, at least if you are me.

I bet your husband is glad you got over thinking he was a dork! 🙂

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Joe Plemon October 22, 2010 at 9:17 am

Wow…where to start…

My four year old daughter putting on my work boots and carrying my lunch pail around the house.

My son crying when his girl friend moved.

Bringing our first child home from the hospital and examining him to make sure he was all there.

My wife calling me (in tears) at work to tell me that I had been drafted.

These are only a snippet, and they are all from many years ago, but I suppose that is what memories, by definition, are.

Thanks for sharing yours.

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Kris October 22, 2010 at 2:29 pm

Joe – I cannot imagine what you and your wife felt when you were drafted. Thank you for serving our country!!!

Kids are a wonderful thing. I could probably list thousands of wonderful memories about mine. But, I would bore all my readers to tears.

Thanks for sharing!

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Crystal @ BFS October 22, 2010 at 1:10 pm

– Hanging on to my step dad’s legs and “making” him walk me around. He was as tall as a tree to me (6’4″ to my 3’3″).

– I remember the first time Miss Doxie jumped on our bed and growled at me when I went to push her off. I swatted her on the butt and pushed harder. She was smart enough to keep the growling to herself at the SPCA but it was no holds barred after that (she doesn’t like being picked up).

– Miss Doxie yelping when she tried to get up 2 days ago. These last few days of recovering from we-have-no-idea-what have been the only times she has happily let me carry her around. She was almost normal again this morning, so we may never know what the heck happened.

– My first conversation with my future husband…I thought it was nice for him to keep me company during my very boring shift but he seems too old to be talking to me (I was 18 and he was 17 1/2 but already had a widow’s peak, lol).

– My little sister crying for mom the second I picked her up the day she was born. I felt stupid. Same thing happened 5 years later with my other little sister. Babies like me but they did not…

– Holding my dad’s hand (step-dad) at the Renaissance Festival a couple of weekends ago.

Thanks for the post!

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Kris October 22, 2010 at 2:31 pm

BFS – cute stories. I think most babies cry when it isn’t mom that is picking them up when they are newborns. I was so inexperienced with babies that my first born probably would have preferred if someone else picked him up though…

I bet the memory of the Ren. festival meant just as much to your stepdad!

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101 Centavos October 23, 2010 at 9:03 am

Nice memories.
For me, the best above all the births of my two boys. The best things I’ve ever done.
Pets we’ve had through the years. Each has a favorite memory, visual and tactile.
The worst in the sheer terror category: cliff climbing at age 11 with my stepdad. Definitely not a thrill-seeker.

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