Childhood Memories

Many here might ask me what I'm doing sharing my childhood memories; they may most likely think I am still a child. But, I must assure them all that after about ninth grade, there were very few childish moments in my life. Not to mention, I also feel my memories from my earlier childhood parallel those that some older folks have from their teenage years. Mostly, my teenage years aren't all whoopy and doo; or, at least they haven't been.My parents lived in a trailer park with my older brother until the summer I was born (1988). They moved their trailer out to the country and put an addition on it, making it twice as big”but still 3 times too small to live in . They have lived there ever since, and so have I.Some of my best childhood memories come from the times between first grade and fourth grade. After that, the memories become more precise, and so instead of having the feeling of one long span of happiness, I am able to recognize the points of upset, anger, sadness, etc. in between.I specifically remember playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on the floor of the living room... we had such nice carpet in there then , and I'd skip meals and going to the bathroom just to play that game. We also had a television... man, I remember it well. It was old, and in rough shape. After turning the dial to get it to come on, it took 1/2 hour for the image to come up!!! I remember coming home to play Nintendo, turning on the television, and then going to defecate while I waited for it to come on. It also had a little eye at the bottom, that would adjust the image to be darker when there was less light in the room. That meant that sneaking up at night to watch TV was pretty difficult; unless you turned on all the lights, you could hardly see the damn thing! My favourite show to watch then was "Married with Children" and I believe I've seen every episode ever made. One night, we smelled something burning... and in trying to figure out what it was, we were led straight to the TV. Needless to say, it had passed its day. We got rid of it .One memory I have rather strongly is visiting my grandparents, which we did quite often. As I was later told, I was their favourite child. I think it was because of my bright blonde curly hair, and cute blue eyes... neither of which I have any more I remember my mother's mother in particular. She had the coolest sand in her driveway, and you could build anything out of it. For the longest time, she also didn't have indoor plumbing, which meant outhouse galore . At my father's parents' house, they had lots to do. His mom had so many sewing supplies, and always sugary drinks on hand when we came over (of course, she always had a 200 mi. head start ).My grandpa had a VW Rabbit, which my dad owns now. It doesn't run anymore, but that was a pretty nifty car... it ran on diesel fuel!Then I got older, I had to start taking responsibility more often”even if still rather seldom ”and suddenly all those living free memories stopped being made. A few of the last memories I have are my first cigarette, and getting a 66 in 6th grade math.My grandparents are all passed, and my house has been re-carpeted... and here I sit... doing finals Life will never be as carefree as it was back then.Jon