28 October 2012

20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

It started at a very young age. Five. Six. And continued until puberty. I grew up in a very Christian home. Church almost every week. Prayers. Bible reading. Christian school. Every night I prayed. I prayed for sick people. For unbelievers. And for God to make me a boy. Every single night. And every morning I'd awake to disappointment. It took me almost 20 years to take matters into my own hands.

It was the day before Valentine's Day, 1997. I was at a local stock show trying to sell tickets to a school fundraiser. A man brought a box of puppies and set them next to us. He told us that we had to give them away. He wasn't coming back for them. Of course we all wanted one. We held them all day and played with them. Somehow I convinced my dad that I should be able to bring one home to show my mother. We only had one dog at the time. I'd taken a liking to the runt. She was just over half as small as her brothers and sisters. And she loved her pink belly to be rubbed. Of course, when I got her home to show my mom, there was no going back. I called her Valerie. She lived until last year. She was a fantastic and smart little dog.

I was 10 when we built the house. Construction took place in the winter so that my dad didn't spend too much time away from actual work. I remember "helping" as I often did on his construction jobs. I would clean up debris and the like. However, because it was winter, the decks would have to be shoveled until they put a huge tarp over the whole hole. The big heaters that kept everything a good temperature made the tarp billow up. From afar, I could only see mounds of snow covered dirt around the foundations and a round plastic bubble. It was great fun. And fun to move into a brand new house. I realize that not a whole lot of people get that opportunity.


1 comment:

Abby said...

Sweetly significant.