Childhood Memories

Posted by Connie Newbauer Mar 10, 2007

Earlier today, I read an essay from a friend regarding his memories of accompanying his father to the dump as a child. As many of our childhood memories are, the memory was poignant, although what turns out was the memory of a rather regular day.

The essay evoked a memory of my own father during a routine outing – long before seat belts had taken hold of their passengers. Dad and I were running an errand and I was moved to respond thusly to my friend:

"Remembering the smell of my own father's aftershave when I snuggled close to him in the car, standing, with my arm around - what seemed then - his enormous shoulders as we motored down the road singing, "If I had a Hammer," Dad kept glancing at me, grinning from ear to ear while singing. I thought at that moment that if I had a hammer and my father beside me, I could build or do anything!"

Afterwards, I began thinking about childhood memories and what my own children might remember, as they get older. It is food for thought that as we go through the totally mundane actions of our daily lives that in the blink of an eye, what we do, the time we share with our children will magically implant itself for life. As parents we bore the weight of making each of these memories good ones and not of screaming shrews or beastly fights amongst family members.

Today, while spring rolls across the land in broad, colorful strokes, take some time to sing, play and laugh with your most precious of gifts: your children.