Mom, what was your favorite memory

Mom, what was your favorite memory of your mom? Your dad?

My parents taught that when you go to church you are going into the presence of The King. In human terms, if you are invited to meet the President of our country, or the Queen of England, or any other presidents or royalties, you would dress appropriately. You might even be told what to wear. And you are never late. That should be our attitude when we go to church to visit The King of kings, we should dress appropriately and never be late.

In the Fall of 1971 I returned to my college campus in Langley, BC, to tell them in person that I would not be returning. I don’t remember why I was doing it this way, maybe I just wanted to see the campus a last time, or maybe I was hoping that I was returning, that a miracle was going to make it possible.* Anyhow, there was Dad, me, and one of my sisters. Dad had a beautiful stick-shift  [Dad said Plymouth, but I think it was something sportier].   I needed the driving practice but was inexperienced with manual shift cars. Dad was letting me drive his car down the freeway. When I got tired and wanted tp stop driving Dad said to pull over onto the shoulder; it required several down-shifts, with which I had trouble. I overshot the shoulder and we ended up off the road. The car was considered totaled by the insurance company. Dad never got mad or yelled at me for having that accident. Instead he thanked God that we were all uninjured.

* (Or was it for a Spring break. Dad says it was a time when we were coming home from Mount Vernon. That’s possible because I don’t remember having two accidents two months apart, which by my time-table is what it would have been.)

As a child l must have been (actually, was!) a bit of a troublemaker. I taught all my brothers and sisters how to get onto the roof of our house. When our mother found out, she told us to stay off the roof. We didn't. Our mother told us not to climb the willow tree in our yard. She was always afraid that we would fall out - which l did a number of times, but I always kept climbing that willow tree. And my siblings would follow me into the tree. We would challenge each other with new stunts. You know, ‘Look at what I can do. I bet you can 't. I double-dare you to try.’

When I was a senior in high school I had a family life class - the last thing I needed was a class on how to take care of babies. It was something I'd been doing all my life. To prove it I brought my baby sister to school. She was 2 ½ years old. Who remembered this? Not me; it was her sister, Reneé. She's the one that remembered and mentions it often when we're together.

I remember three gifts in particular. The first was a toy called Showboat. It was cardboard and plastic. It had cardboard people and cardboard scenery and was designed to look like a paddle-wheel boat, after a famous one called Showboat. With it I could have my cardboard people act out plays.

One Christmas or birthday mom gave me a Bible from a dear friend of hers that died. The Bible had notes and under linings that the woman had made during her Bible study times. I loved that Bible.

For graduation mom & dad gave me a portable electric typewriter. They had to give it to me early because mom was leaving for a hospital in Colorado the next day. I didn't attend my graduation ceremony because I had only attended that school for 2 years and mom wouldn't be there for the ceremony. But I wish someone had told me about the party. Christina was not yet 3 (because I was not yet 18) and I became "mom" for the summer. Mom got back in time for me to leave for college in Canada. I spent that whole day before her return cleaning the house.

I remember that every once in a while mom & dad would try to institute "family night,” usually on Friday nights. It would last for a few weeks then disappear. But we would play Sorry, Monopoly, Parcheesi and Risk. Probably some other games, but never card games of any kind. I tried to do this with my own kids but Eve doesn't like board games, Sara does.

Family Vacations:

We RV'd through Canada (BC, maybe lower Alberta, I don 't know). Either Reneé or Christina was a baby. Maybe it was the year after Christina's birth. We had to stop on the road's shoulder because either we all needed to use the woods (bathroom) or we were all hungry. Or, maybe because we stopped to use the woods mom decided to make lunch. I was taking care of the baby. I was bitten by a huge horsefly.

I remember many trips to the ocean when we were little. My favorite memories of that were clam digging, starfish, the shells and sand dollars, and candy necklaces.

Many summers were spent at Lake Retreat, first for my age group’s camp week and later in summer for Family Camp.

Dad, “I asked the kids what they remembered about Hat Island, where we had purchased a vacation lot; Hat Island is a little island in Puget Sound, west of Everett. We took a small 2-3 car ferry to the Island. I built a toilet on the beach with driftwood. There was no pool, just Puget Sound - we were the only ones on the Island at the time.”

I have vague memories of Hat Island. Mostly what I remember is that I loved that place and was very sad when you sold it or let it go and I didn't have the money to buy it. I remember the woods, but then I was always fond of woods - the woods on Hat Island, near our black house in

Edmonds, on King's Gardens property before they expanded ...Woods were places of seclusion and solitude...For me, a place of peace.

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