Earliest Memory

I'm not sure how many people remember earlier than maybe age 5... I can barely remember anything past yesterday half the time! So many can remember great details of their childhood, but mine are sporadic. It bums me out. Either I wasn't paying attention or my life has just always been boring. Ha ha.

My first memory, though, is from when I was about 18-20 months old. I'm not sure exactly when. I have a memory of flashy lights and a face looking at me through a car window. I have had this recurring memory for years before finally asking my parents if it meant anything to them. Dad immediately knew.

When the memory occurred, dad was driving me to my g'parents' house before going to work. He pulled to the side of the road because he was having chest pains and thought he was having a heart attack. This was before the days of cell phones, so thankfully a cop was waved over (I don't remember the story well enough to remember how) and they got dad help. Problem was when they went to get me out of the car to transport me to where I needed to be I threw more than a fit. Apparently I was traumatized! Just them coming to the car door had me flipping out.

They contacted my mom and she had to come get me.

I still have nightmares involving it from time to time. So obviously it made an impact. So that's my first memory.

So yesterday I went fishing with my dad and his friends. Caught a Sockeye (dad and his buddy limited out though). It's still early for the second run of reds, but we had a good time. Until the boat died on us and we floated dangerously down the river. Had several boats pull up alongside and offer assistance, problem was none of their boats were big enough to tow us where we needed to go. So dad called his buddies that had just flown into Alaska to come bail us out. Dan, Cary, and Rick are literal lifesavers! I owe them cookies!

Other than that, no real news or exciting things going on. Still waiting to see if Hi Speed Gear was able to save my external hard-drive or not. If they can't I'm screwed. So I'm sure Monday will suck as that's when they'll no doubt give me the bad news.

Oh well, 63 days till Disneyland.

30 Days of Disneyland - Day 24: Favorite Disneyland Memory

Day 24 - Favorite Disneyland Memory

I have so many favorite memories at Disneyland. Having been to the park a handful of times (for several days most trips), I've created quite a few. So it's hard to choose just one. Instead, I will cheat and list my favorite memory(ies) of each trip. Because, well, I can. There's no Meme Police that I'm aware of. So I do what I want!

1990 Family Trip: I was 5. Favorite Memory was most definitely riding The Matterhorn. I sat with Dad, and mom rode behind us. The whole time mom was screaming at my dad to hold onto me. All I remember is the Yeti and the *huge* pool of water at the end (and the crowd). It was thrillingly fun.

2006 Road Trip: Erin and I drove 7 hours for one day at Disney. It was EPIC. We spent 11 hours in the park (would've been from opening to close had we not gotten lost on our way from where we stayed to the park). We only went to Disneyland park, not California Adventure, but we got to see everything we wanted to in that trip. It was before I got obsessive over planning and knowing everything about the parks. That would soon change, but I digress. Favorite Memory is hard to pinpoint because that whole day was perfect and awesome. Perhaps I will go with the memory of laughing pretty much non stop all day. We'd definitely found our laughing place.

2011 Haille's First Trip: Haille turned five in Disneyland. What better birthday could you possibly have?! My favorite memory from that trip was the last night we were all there (I spent an extra day in SoCal from the rest of them). We ate at Goofy's Kitchen. Haille'd been shy around the characters all week, but that night she was ALL smiles. She had a blast. She danced with Goofy, fought Pluto for her hot dog, played pranks with Dale, was sung Happy Birthday by the Fairy Godmother... and so much more. We stayed for two hours because of all the attention. It was awesome. (Another great memory was Haille falling in love with the Haunted Mansion... and the ONE particular hitchiking ghost that ALWAYS sat in our car. EVERY SINGLE TIME. CREEPY!)

2012 Family Trip: Another trip with Haille. Another GREAT trip. We had Gaylord's granddaughter and daughter with us that trip as well (his gdaughter is also named Hailee). My favorite memory is Haille Rae sharing all her Disneyland wisdom with Hailee (it was her first trip). She talked her through the scary stuff (remember, it just pretend!) and she showed her the tips and tricks to talking with the characters. She remembered so much of what I told her about certain things about the park and characters from the trip the year prior. I was bursting with pride. That kid is amazing. Gonna miss my park buddy on our trip this year.


82 days until we make a new set of favorite memories!