Fondest Childhood Memories?

[ASTRAEA]

@Prosecco6247 - That's so true! And my Mom being divorced meant she took me along on all vacation trips, that in many families would have been Mom & Dad going .. while the children went to camp or stayed home with another relative.

[Prosecco6247]

One thing most important things loving & conscientous parents try to do for their children is to provide positive experiences and wonderful family memories that will last a lifetme.  Sue, it looks as if your parents were high achievers in both categories!  How touching to hear you tell your story...I can feel the excitement in your words!

[catwoman500]

@doglover52, Sue, You have such a detailed memory of that trip. How wonderful to remember so much! N.

[doglover52]

One of my fondest childhood memories happen in 1968.Our family took a 3 week summer vacation trip out West.We flew from Buffalo-Denver,saw the AirForce Academy,rented a car the rest of the way. We spent couple days at Grand Canyon,Jackson Hole, Wyoming then on to Los Angeles. In LA we were staying at the Roosevelt Hotel.In the elevator one morning,a movie star got on who I recognized,wonderful character actor,Paul Ford{he played "Mayor Shin" in "Music Man"}.I wanted to say something to him,but was so 'star struck'. When I got back to our hotel room,told my parents,brother&sister about my experience,they had no idea who he was LOL! I was on 'cloud nine' for the rest of the day

As we headed towards San Francisco,we stopped briefly in Las Vegas,my mom wanted to buy postcard stamps. My siblings&I went with her,we were amazed to see slot machines in the drug store. The manger told her,we couldn't touch the machines because we were underaged. My dad was getting a bit frustrated waiting in the car, 1/2hr later she returns,so happy. She played 1 of the slot machines won $ 30

In SF,we stayed with my mom's cousins who lived 1/2hr from the city in the country. We had a wonderful time doing usual tourist attractions,perfect way to end our trip. A couple days later we flew home Sue

[Clarlee2]

waiting at railroad tracks for either or both my two brothers to come home on leave during World War ll.

One or both would lift me up so high and then hug me so tight.    Naturally, I had missed them so very much, I cried and cried.  One brother was a navy man all the way.  The other brother, older by only one year than the sailor was a bombadier for those flying fortresses which went over the enemy.

Many prayers of thanksging both my big brothers returned, safely.

Charlee

[jh14042180]

I do not have any good memories. Reading all of yours just makes me happy to know other people had an amazing and blessed childhood!

[Prosecco6247]

@gloriacorbit  What a moving childhood memory!  Thank your for sharing!

[gloriacorbit]

My fondest childhood memory of my dad.  Seven kids in our family and my dad at times worked 3 jobs.  He would walk home from work, pick up a sack lunch and head out to a night time part time job at the gas station.

My dad carried a black lunch box to his regular job.  Every day after he ate his lunch he put a coin in (penny or nickle and maybe sometimes a dime).  It wasn't much, but the first child to meet him at the corner of our block got the money in his lunch box.

When I think about that it brings tears to my eyes because it meant he really wanted to see his kids when he got home from work and that was his way of insuring that he would.

[PattyDiane]

For the first time in several years my best friend was in my 5th grade class.  Being together so much we decided we were actually twins and even had our teacher refer to us by our "twin" names.  We talked our mothers, both of whom made most of our clothes, to make us jumpers out of the same fabric.

At the same time Dick Van Dyke had an afternoon talk/variety show in Atlanta and we heard he was having a "Bunny Hop" contest.  We decided to enter and we made up a little dance and after school one day we got on the city bus instead of the school bus and headed downtown after telling our parents we were each going home with the other.  We were chosen for the broadcast the following week so we did the same thing again.  We wore our look-alike clothes and gave them our twin names.

For some reason it didn't enter our 10-year old minds that our mothers watched that show in the afternoon too and that's when they found out we were not where we were supposed to be and they were not at all happy with us.  I'm not certain if they were more unhappy about our going to downtown without permission or that we had not given our real names.  We didn't think they would let us go back for the finals but they finally consented and this time they went with us.  We had to promise to clear up the confusion about our names.

Dick Van Dyke had a female co-host and we found her in the rest room before the show and we made our great confession.  She assured us it would be OK and she would pass the word on.  Now I realize she did it before the show, but it seemed she told him on camera after we did our little dance.  He went into a whole little "shock and awe" bit after hearing the news and pretended to disbelieve the news.  To prove that we were actually twins he pulled out a chair and had each of us sit on his knee while he counted our freckles.  In the end he was convinced we weren't twins after all since my bff had two more freckles than I did.

We didn't win the contest but ended up with a really great experience that I think about each time I see him in a movie or on TV.

[oldegranddad]

This is more of a teenage memory than a childhood memory. In 1964, I attended a World Series game at Yankee Stadium. It was a great, special day I will always cherish.