The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good (some of my best childhood memories):

• Picnic dinners with the family in East Mill Crick (Creek) Canyon
• Waterskiing at Pineview

 

• Being tickle-tortured by Diane
• The 4th of July parades and celebrations at East Mill Creek park
• Fireworks at Liberty Park
• The GrAnDe ‘Days of ’47’ parade!
• Playing croquet and badminton with the Close’s in their back yard
• Sliding down the hills on cardboard sleds at the gravel pit
• Pollywog Town!
• Shoe skates!
• Sandy teaching me how to eat cinnamon bears (you bite off their heads first)
• Being the neighborhood champion for riding my bike around the block without using my hands – at least 14 or 15 rounds
• Dad teaching me how to shore jump
• Mom taking me skiing at Alta on school days
• Learning how to make doll clothes on the treadle sewing machine
• Going as a family to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square
• Riding my tricycle up and down Evergreen Gardens with Jeff Wyler
• Sledding down the big hill
• Tickle-torturing Janis
• Getting a ride in the big bucket of Ivan Jensen’s tractor
• Walking to Grandma & Grandpa Davis’ house
• Sitting in the tree and eating so many cherries at Grandma’s house that I would get a stomach ache
• Eating so much raw rhubarb fresh out of Grandma’s garden that I would get a stomach ache
• Walking to church with Grandma and getting a piece of Blackjack gum (which I would have to spit out before going into the church)
• Making little pies with raisins and cinnamon sugar with Grandma when she would bake bread
• Thanksgiving with all my family – including grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles (and the cute little plastic monkeys that Grandma let me place around the punch bowl one year when there was a fierce snowstorm)
• Realizing my big brother Gene was one of my favorite people and best friends the summer before he left on his mission

The Bad (some of my not-so-great childhood memories):

• Pulling dandelion weeds and having an allergic reaction that made my eyes swell completely shut
• Having to go down to dad’s workshop to “look for a big stick – and make sure it has a nail in the end of it!” to take back to dad when I got in trouble. I never did find one with a nail in it….and I never did get a spanking with any kind of a stick
• Being tickle-tortured by Diane (any longer than 1 or 2 minutes)
• Walking to school in a mushy, slushy snowstorm carrying my violin, knowing I would be late, and taking a ride from a stranger who scared me half to death to teach me a lesson

The Ugly (it wasn’t always pretty):

• Turning on the hot water while taking a bath and scalding my hands and feet, resulting in 2nd and 3rd degree burns when I was quite little (I don’t remember this but have seen a picture or two – I think it was more traumatic for my parents)
• Falling down a steep, rocky slope while hiking in Parley’s Canyon, resulting in a concussion and tearing up my back and legs
• Falling backwards through some wire meshing down the stairs and getting stitches in my finger
• Falling off of a headboard while playing a game of ‘Follow the Leader’ with Gene, Diane and Sandy, and getting stitches
• Stepping out of the boat onto a sandy beach while on the ‘Friendship Cruise’ and cutting my foot open on a broken bottle (should have gotten stitches)
• My head-on crash with Gene on the tote-goats at Bear Lake which resulted in a concussion, stitches in my upper lip, a black tooth, an overnight stay in the Paris, ID hospital and a week of missed waterskiing
• Having a spring from a mattress coil into my foot while changing in the back of the van, resulting in stitches and 2 days of missed waterskiing
• Head meeting windshield (pre-seatbelt laws), resulting in a concussion, broken nose and stitches in my forehead and face

Is it any wonder my mother didn’t think I would look normal
when (and if) I grew up? Oh, and I am still ticked that I missed all those great waterskiing opportunities.