happy things I remember from childhood

I find people fascinating. Sometimes I like to go back in time on particular blogs, just see what kinds of things they wrote about. Often I find fun things that inspire me to create a similar post, like this one.

I hereby give you some happy things I remember from my childhood.

This was the first bike I bought myself, with earned and gifted money that I diligently saved. She was a 10-speed, royal blue.

I kept her clean and greased her chain religiously. But I don't remember giving her a name...

Using the various bikes that I owned (or borrowed), I would often take my spare change and ride to the nearby 7-11...

...where, among other sweet treasures, I would purchase the forbidden candy cigarettes.

When it was cold enough outside that we could see our breath, we'd pretend we were smoking. We thought that was pretty cool.

Favorite toys:

Zippy, from very early. He pretty much fell apart from my constant care and attention. Then there were Hot Wheels...

...for which I also saved my money. I only bought the coolest ones. Coolest = most expensive in real life, like Porsches and Mercedes Benz and Jaguars and Corvettes. In the summer, we would create roads and towns for these tiny drivers in the flower beds of our front yard. Is it any wonder I still like to drive?

And then there was the old standby, Barbie, with her true love, Ken, and her niece, Skipper.

I called them Jen and Jon. I don't remember what my Skipper's name was. They had a three-story house (garage sale bought, I'm sure), and a pink Corvette, and as many clothes as I could afford. I still have my dolls. They're laid to rest in a shoebox in my closet, dressed in their wedding clothes.

I clearly remember sleeping outside on our trampoline during the summer...

...with all of my siblings, and how in the morning (or in the middle of the night, if the sprinklers came on), we would all find ourselves in a heap in the middle. Why was that fun?

In junior high, Levi's Shrink-to-fit jeans were the newest and hippest (and stupidest) idea ever.

And I also wanted Levi's tee shirts in every color.

I only ended up with two or three. I was too busy buying Barbie clothes and Hot Wheels.

Favorite TV shows:

The Muppet Show, which made me laugh, and whose guest stars I looked forward to seeing every week. Kermit was my hero. I think I related to him the most. He just wanted everything to run smoothly, and it never did, but it always turned out okay.

The Twilight Zone, which totally freaked me out and lit my imagination on fire.

And The Brady Bunch. Our family was much like theirs, except that my mother had only two girls when she married my step-father and his three boys. I often wished we could have been as happy as they were.

And, when I wasn't watching television or playing with my toys, I was reading. I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure series, among others.

I think I read every single one of those.

I could go on, but that's enough for now. I hope you enjoyed this walk down the avenue of time as much as I did.