The Fall

 

Whenever I see one of those wall-mounted nightstands in a hotel room, I'm reminded of the time I managed to fall into one.

My parents would tell me when I was very little, I was asleep on the hotel bed. My parents had set it up so I had barriers to keep me from rolling off, but somehow I still managed to roll right out bed, cracking my head on the corner of the nightstand on my way down.

The impact created a pretty bad gash on my forehead, and I began bleeding pretty badly.

Once my father found out where the nearest hospital was from the hotel staff, he rushed me there in the family car. I was too young to remember all the details myself, but when my father would recall the incident, he'd tell me there was so much blood in the car, he didn't know if I was going to make it.

Luckily, I was okay, albeit bandaged up for a while until the wound on my head healed.

Though I may have been too young to remember all the details myself, I've been told the story over and over again to the point I feel a little traumatized when I see one of those hotel nightstands. 🤕

One is the Lonliest Number

Sure, it was awesome stumbling onto a hard to find toy while away on vacation, but sometimes there was a little disappointment sitting in the hotel room when I realized all the figures I owned that go with the toy are at home hundreds of miles away. 😅

Souvenir

While on vacation, my parents would encourage us to get something to commemorate the trip. I am sure they would have preferred a souvenir specific to the area we were visiting, but I typically gravitated to my favorite toy lines. 😅

It was a bonus when we'd stumble onto a gigantic toy store filled with toys we'd rarely see in our own hometown. 😁

Eagle Eye

While traveling, my father focused on the road, so he'd rely on the family to spot stops along the way. I was pretty good at locating places, though it helped when they had those tall signs visible from the highway. 😉

I was good enough to steer the family in the right direction, they gave me the nickname "Eagle Eye"!

The Road Trip

As a kid I was a big bundle of energy, so being cooped up in the car for hours was extremely excruciating! 🤯

Vacation

There were years our parents would pick us up right after the last day of school to head straight out of town for a long vacation.

As my usual reaction, I had a strong reluctance to go. 😮‍💨😅

Kiss

True Story!

There was a cute girl in class that I liked. It was one of those "worst kept secrets", so most of the kids my age knew. Once, a kid asked if I had ever kissed her. I MAY have led them to believe I had...even though I had barely spoken to her, let alone kissed her! 😉😅

Bike Ride

If you had asked me, spending an entire summer day on my bike was definitely not a waste of time! 😁🚲

Summer Read

There's something about visiting the public library during summer vacation!

Taking a book home to read for recreational purposes rather than for academic reasons just hits differently! 🧐📖 

Sleepin' In

One of the FIRST things I looked forward to on summer vacation...the ability to sleep in as long as I wanted! 😴

Walking on Sunshine

In honor of the end of the school year!

I was always excited on the last day of school! It may have been the thought that I wouldn't have to step foot into a school again for a couple months! 🤔

The Call Continued

I MAY have embellished a little when I told my friends about my phone call with the girl. 😉☎️

Can We Talk?

...of course, when I got enough courage to call a girl, I was SUCH the conversationalist! 😅🥰

The Call

Calling a girl for the first time was always nerve wracking...

What do I say? What if her parents answer?

I'm surprised I ever got enough courage to make a call. 😅☎️

Project!

True Story!

Our teacher assigned us a project towards the end of school year. We had WEEKS to work on the project, but I kept putting it off. The DAY it was due, I panicked and threw some pathetic thing together, thinking turning in SOMETHING was better than nothing at all.

The teacher knew EXACTLY what I had done!

After making sure my parents knew it as well, she gave me the weekend to work on a replacement project. My father, with his skill at making scale models, helped me choose a model of the lunar landing.

I ended up walking in Monday morning with an AMAZING looking model, which was obviously more my father's work than my own! Well...at least I got a better grade than I would have! 😅

Dance

School dances...when we were very young, did we even know what we were supposed to do at a dance?

I feel like those early dances we spent most of the time leaning against the wall while we listened to the music. 🤭

Rain

That look when you WANT to go outside to play, but the weather wasn't cooperating! 🌧

Bicycle

I couldn't WAIT to get home from school so I could take my bike out for a ride! 🚲😎

The Borrower

Anyone else have a friend like this?

This type of "friend" hung out with you, but seemed more interested in the things you owned than YOU.

I had one, and I let them borrow quite a few things of mine...and YEARS later, I'm still waiting for them to be returned.

I'm not holding my breath! 😅

Priorities

Priorities!

While the rest of the children were concentrating on their schoolwork, I had other things on my mind. 🤔📺

Friends

A friend is someone who can make you smile...even on one of your worst days. 😊🤜🤛😁

Word Problems

I was fairly good at math, but word problems had a tendency to trip me up! 🤔

Anyone else?

Participation

Not winning a place ribbon on Field Day was one thing, but being handed the orange "participation" ribbon was like the school was saying "hey, at least you tried", and felt a little like salt in the wound. 😕

The Run

 Field Day played out the same way year after year...

1) Everyone dreaded having me on their team.

2) I was always put in a running relay.

3) I would be light years behind the rest of the runners.

4) My team looked at me in disappointment when we didn't win.

It was YEARS later that I discovered I have a circulatory disorder in my one leg. No matter how hard I'd try to run, I was constantly fighting against my circulation problems.😮‍💨

Some kids were a bit cruel when they got frustrated with my attempts at running...I wonder if they would have reacted differently if they knew I had a medical condition that was holding me back? 🤔

Field Day

Field Day...is that still a thing? At the end of the school year, all the classes in each grade competed in a series of physical challenges.

If you were athletic, it was your Jam! Otherwise...you didn't look forward to it, because everyone in your grade got to see exactly how unathletic you really were.

As you could guess, I didn't look forward to it. 😅