Friday, October 17, 2014

The Rusty, Muddy Fence

My time at 1343 N. 200 E. serves for great memories as a child. I lived in that house for 12+ years of my life. My childhood was there. My family’s childhood was there (my parents had been there for 33+ years). Still to this day, when I dream of “home” its not my new, wonderful house where six of my life years were spent—but it’s cute little 1343 North. This is where I dream so often—this is my home.

Physical Experience:
  • ·      I remember eating cold cereal in the swinging, sticky, brown barstool that we all fought over
  • ·      I slid the envelope that housed a check for my mom along the edge of the red linoleum counter and backsplash, only to have it fall between the crack and get stuck against the wall. The cool counter is where I rested my head as I shrank back in agony of what I had just done. (And I remembered years later after finding the check during the remodel…that I had been the agent in its placement)
  • ·      The hot summer days when my mom would give us permission to fry the grass. We would roll out the long slip in slide made of vinyl that we got from the bindery. It would stretch down our perfect (and back then, enormous) hill. The sun on the vinyl made for the most pleasant summertime smell. We would bring two hoses to the top of the slide and run the cool water down the vinyl. We would slide down the smooth surface hoping no one would have a pool of water to sling into our faces. Molly—the Nelson’s dog would run along the back fence enjoying getting cooled off…and unfortunately muddy. The smell was summer, the feel was summer, the taste was summer (popsicles and freshly picked apricots). Summer as a child at 1343…
  • ·      Comparing my tan arms with Mary’s tan arms…


Scenes
The aerial view of our hill and the back fence.
*This photo does not do this "heaven on earth" justice. 
  • ·      I was always jealous of Mary who had an August birthday—she always got to have a slip-in-slide birthday party. My birthday was in February—and we always had to stay inside.
  • ·      Mary would invite friends over—mostly my friends too. Alicia and Krista Keddington, Katelyn Eyre, and a few more. The slip-in-slide was the best. Our hill was the biggest in the ward—and our backyard was just full of grass. It was perfect.
  • ·      We would unroll the sturdy vinyl that we got from the bindery. It was very durable. We only had two our whole lives. The first one was a rusty orange color. The second, a mix between an olive green and teal. Normally the edges of the vinyl roll were covered in cobwebs, dust and hair from our cat Fluffy who lived in the garage. Taking it out for the first time since winter, we would hose it off and get ready to roll.
  • ·      The water would need to run for awhile. The vinyl needed to be coated or else you couldn’t slide, and would get burned.
  • ·      If you got going too fast (which we did most of the time) we would run into the back fence. Sometimes we would have to put camping pads along the back fence to soften our stop.
  • ·      We would ski down, go head first, feet first, pancake style (group), spider (group) and all sorts of things.

Speech
  • ·      Cheers for those who could ski down most of the slide
  • ·      Begging those at the bottom to not hold up the two corners and create a pool of water—if they did this, when you slid down they would fling it and soak you.
  • ·      “Mom, can we do the slip in slide?”
  • ·      “Mom we’re not done yet, can we keep going?”
  • ·      “Mom, can we have piƱa coladas?”
  • ·      “Mary do you want to do the spider?”
  • ·      “Isaac—put down the hose! Don’t spray us!”
  • ·      “Mom, Isaac won’t stop spraying us.”
  • ·      Constant barking from Molly as she was getting wet—and because Fluffy (our cat) came to watch us slide and just the sight of her in the back yard would drive Molly nuts

Emotion in the moment
  • ·      Excitement
  • ·      Pure joy
  • ·      Laughing
  • ·      Sun shining—and everything was right in the world
  • ·      Being pestered by Isaac and fighting with him—telling him to stop doing whatever he was doing (My dad told him it was his job as a little brother to tease and annoy me—and he was very diligent in following out what my dad told him…)
  • ·      Arguing with Mary after being in the hot sun for a while. We shared best friends—and as she was the older one—she often won out with favoritism.
  • ·      Not caring what I looked like in a swimming suit—or with wet hair

o   No make up to get ruined—just the sweet innocence of childhood

People of Consequence
  • ·      Mary: Silky straight hair that was a light brown, caramel color (compared to now, her dark hair with dirty blonde accents that is ALWAYS curled tightly)

o   Free, happy, life of the party
o   Facilitator/Boss of the show
o   Tanner than tan in the summer
o   We would laugh and play together—work as a team
o   Sometimes I was the annoying little sister to her
  • ·      Krista: Dark brown hair that wasn’t straight, and wasn’t curly…it was just…what it was—and often frizzy

o   Freckles covered her face
o   She was the peacemaker (peacemaker72!)
o   She was my best friend, but tried to be Mary’s too
o   Alicia’s (Mary’s best friend) sister
o   Lived two houses away
o   Constant companion in the summer

-Lizzy S.




2 comments:

  1. I like the story about the check. That could be fun to hear more about. I especially like how it all comes full circle in the end.

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  2. There were several ways that I related your experiences to the Book of Mormon on a general level (rather than a spiritual level).

    Just like Lehi and Nephi (the brothers, not the father and son) had a very strong relationship with each other and their father, your family was clearly very influential in your life, especially your older sister, Mary.

    The vivid description and imagery of your backyard (the pool of water at the bottom of the slide, the pleasant smell, the mud) creates an idyllic scene, which stand in contrast to the description of a desolate wilderness devoid of trees in the land northward in Helaman 3.

    Moroni and Pahoran were friends generally, although Moroni did accuse him of being a traitor at one point. Ultimately, Moroni went to Pahoran's defense. In the same way, it seems like you occasionally argued or annoyed your sister, but ultimately it is clear that you care very much for her and would do almost anything for her, and vice versa.

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