Childhood Days
- Part 1 -
I will admit - I had a good childhood. Great parents, great situations, and lots and lots of fun. Also lots of pictures for that matter. And what can I say? The camera loved me.
In this photo set, you can follow my growing up through old photos from my childhood, from birth to around age 12. I've done my best to put these photos in chronological order. However, most of these are undated, so I had to guesstimate. To give you something of a sense of order, I was born in 1981. Sis was born in 1984. We moved from Glassboro, New Jersey to Rogers, Arkansas in 1985. I started kindergarten in 1986, and started at Grimes Elementary in 1987. Sis started kindergarten in 1990, and attended Grimes Elementary in 1991. Then in 1992, we moved from Rogers, Arkansas to the home where my parents still live in Stuarts Draft, Virginia.
One thing I thought was interesting in looking at all these old photos was the different styles of clothing that everyone was wearing. I mean, let's face it - this is the 1980's and early 1990's we're talking about here. I especially love the early-90's stuff, with all the bright and somewhat garish colors.
Wasn't I a cute baby?
This is the house we had while we lived in Glassboro, New Jersey.
One of the noteworthy features of our neighborhood in Glassboro was the "falling down stop sign", so named because it looked like it was falling down. Unfortunately, the city of Glassboro couldn't resist fixing that eventually, and when we drove by the falling down stop sign in August of 1996 while visiting family nearby, the falling down stop sign, an item of my childhood, a part of my past, had been replaced.
When the snow fell, Mom used to run me around the background on our little orange sled. That sled was awesome, and we used it until it literally fell apart in 1991.
Visiting Pop and Grandma Schumin, we find me doing one of the things I did best - eating a "flying saucer", which was an ice cream sandwich with vanilla ice cream and chocolate cookie outsides.
Here I am on the beach at Sea Isle City in New Jersey, holding Mom's hand.
This is a sand castle we did at Sea Isle City one time.
Here I am, quite amused, holding the string end of a bright orange kite on the beach one day.
Wasn't I just darling?
Having moved to Arkansas by now, here I am sitting on the green couch demonstrating my utter lack of fashion sense. Note, though, the little alligator on the shirt.
Here I am, wearing my red "Dr. Stop" shirt, showing off the fans I made out of Tinkertoys. I loved my Tinkertoys, and my favorite things to do with them for the longest time were to make fans like this, or spell "EXIT" with the "I" reaching way up to the ceiling.
Here I am next to the fireplace, just rocking and rolling to the tunes of the Walkman...
Here I am at the "Teddy Bear Parade" in downtown Rogers.
Here I am again, with my bear (named "Chris"), but this time I'm wearing my Phillies hat. Goes to show that even though I've lived in the south most of my life, I am still a Yankee at heart. Somehow, though, Chris the bear managed to escape my sight and get sold at a yard sale.
Still at the Teddy Bear Parade, here I am talking to the then-mayor of Rogers, John Sampier.
Preschool graduation... I remember that at the time I thought it was so weird that my little clip-on tie was flat at the bottom, and wished I had a "normal" tie that came to a point at the bottom.
Here, I'm standing on a tree stump in a field near War Eagle Mill near Rogers.
Even in my young age, I still knew how to work the VCR like a professional, even though by today's standards, this VCR was primitive (no remote!).
"Hello, everybody!"
I had my sixth birthday party at Showbiz Pizza in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Here I am going up and down on one of their rides - some sort of spaceship.
While I and the rest of my buddies were having fun, Sis went and played around in the ball pit.
One of the things I will never forget about my childhood was at my sixth birthday party when I got to talk to Billy Bob, Showbiz Pizza's mascot at the time. I even told a joke while I was up there! And I quote...
Me: "What do you get when you cross an apple and an airplane?"
Billy Bob: "I don't know... what do you get when you cross an apple and an airplane?"
Me: "Appleplane!"
"When will you people finish singing so I can blow out the candles?"
"Hey, Sis, what's Mom doing over there? I think she's taking our picture!"
I'm in the laundry room, which, oddly enough, had a built-in desk, posing in my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt while wearing a witch's hat, close to Halloween 1987. Note the missing tooth that I am sporting in the photo. Also note the E.T. poster in the background.
I ultimately went as a crayon for Halloween in 1987, and Sis went as Mickey Mouse. And by the looks of it, I've found something far more interesting to look at than the camera.
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