Believe me... not all my Childhood days were and all that...

Although, my school days... well... those are some of the most prominent years of my life.

I went back home this past weekend... which is nothing new, although I stayed with a best friend who has moved back home (to Kearny) 2 years ago.
It has been years... since I stayed the night in Kearny. We hung-out, BBQ, went walking in the middle of the night... and just recollected "good times".

The next day, as I was driving back to my Aunt and Uncles and to the place I grewup, 10 minutes from Kearny... I stopped by my old stomping grounds.

Our Church... where my aunt made us go... and where I first learned how hypercritical people truly can be "in the eyes of GOD" (Talkin about my own experiences)


This is the hallway to my Kindergarten class... the first door was my first door of school. (30 some years ago!)


This is where I got my first spankin... Mrs. Chastain said... "Nobody get a drink of water!" What did I do... get a drink of water... just one of my many occasions I defy authority. My oh my... the stories I have.


This is where we have recess... K-4th grade. Good times. I remember in 2nd grade... chopping at a boys arm and making him cry... yes, right here on this very ground. Mean, I tell you.


This is where I would chase and beat up the boys... I was (back then) a fast runner... and had one mean temper. Later... this was where we played kissing tag. It still looks the same... with some new shaded slide area's. The mountains... If I only knew how beautiful we really had it... although, now I know.


Right below the Primary school... is the road that leads to the Kearny neighborhood. I realize more and more... how beautifully fortunate we were/are... and did not even realize then.



Do you reminisce about the places you grew up?
[Edited 7/4/06 18:02pm]

Hell, no I don't.

Did you ever read about my first orgasm and how it involved a Smurf's comforter?


NEVER AGAIN!

God, why did I just read Imago's comment? I saw the Jersey symbol and I thought this was a safe place.

kidelrich said:

He's a sneaky little bastard, isn't he?

kidelrich said:

It is... if you want it to be.

To seriously answer you, I wish I could go back because I would try to change alot of things. But I don't fondly remember much of my childhood.

jerseykrs said:

at you!
[Edited 7/4/06 18:02pm]

ok, before moving to ALA-fucking-BAMA, I lived in Saipan.

Loved it.

Imago said:

Thank you Dan.

Those pictures made me remember all the green in Florida where I grew up. Our neighborhood was new, so there were always new houses and roads. It was pretty cool when I rode my bike around there.

I try to re-enact my happy moments when I can. My brother, mom, friend and I were playing spades and whenever my brother said anything stupid I blasted him with my water gun of ice water in his ear! We had pistols on the table squirtting every one but mom. I am the only one in the thirties. Everyone else is forty plus. We are using super soakers for the rematch Friday!

Now if I can just move the rocks for the Slip N Slide we will be set!

ShySlantedEye1 said:

Cute. Was this back in the days... or now... Super Soakers have not been around that long.

kidelrich said:

This one time....in band camp.

Imago said:

If you actually were Alysson Hannigan, it might change things.

kidelrich said:

We use to ride our bikes down this road... and right to the left...



was the Gila River... where we would swim. It looks like chocolate milk right now... this happens when it rains. We still would jump in back in the day.

Freespirit said:

This was yesterday! They have bootleg models here in the ghetto and we are loading up. The water guns were for the cats. We would spray them when they were getting close to the food or my mom. She is allergic to them. After while we just used them on each other.

SAIPAN AGAIN




This beach was located right near my neighborhood. I imagine it was a mile long (or possibly more) trek from the main road and through the woods. There is no way to get to the beach except through a hike in an old dirt/stone trail through the woods.

The brown color of the water is not actually the water at all, but brown rocks & coral through the clear blue water. The place was teaming with life.
The beach was totally secluded (and the structure you see above the cliff was not even there at the time I lived there). It was like a private, secluded hidaway that the kids would escape to, in order to play.

I never really thought about how much danger we were in becuase we would walk the over the rocks right to the edge where the deep blue see would crash in to the rock wall.

It was a haunted beach, seldom visited by tourist, with old monuments (the stone cup looking pillars stuck in the ground you see in my pictures above) which served to remind us that people used to dwell on the beaches until the Japanese/American battles of World War II, which littered the ocean floor with tanks, planes, ships and the bones of fallen/defeated soldiers.

I never realized how magical it all was until I was a full grown man.

.
[Edited 7/4/06 19:00pm]

ShySlantedEye1 said:

I love it!

Imago said:

This is the part of you that marvels me. Thank you so much Dan.

Why was'nt it allowed to get a drink of water I wonder?
I mean it's there and we all need water.
What a stupid teacher to tell you not to drink
Unless it's not clean water.

And to answer you question,I do lot's of times reminisce
about my childhood,but even tho I have strong childhood memories
I mostly reminisce colors and fragrances.Pretty much abstract pieces.
I do however would like to re-visit places from my Saudi Arabian days.

It's funny when coming back to a spot you placed at as a kid,
afer all these years cuz it always look smaller than you remember it
/peace Manki

Yeah sure. Most of them are bad unfortuntaly as I ended up being a pretty unlucky kid I guess. I really don't have too many good memories from my childhood, I'm just not able to remember many of those.

But I recently remembered what it was like to be at birthday parites when you were a kids and were allowed to have all the cake and sweets you wanted, and how it felt when you had a crush on the prettiest girl in the class.

You tend to forget those.

manki said:

Yes, I hear you Magnus. Some of my favorite smells were fresh cooked tortillas, pumpkin pie... Mmmm... and even the river has this smell that I can never ever forget, especially on a cool evening night.

I would love to see more of your childhood areas, as I remember some you have so generously shared.

Novabreaker said:

I remember the bad ones too, unfortunately so.

But what has you all grown-up acting like a school-aged boy eating too many sweets and crushing on pretty little girls.

Hey Prince is on BET, the rerun that is!!!

"Tell me something good..."

Freespirit said:

My aunt had a farm for years that we would visit every summer...there, she had a rooster that HATED me......that sucka would cock-a-doodle-do outside my window every morning until I got out of the bed!

I grew up as the "only" girl---(I had female cousins and friends, but they weren't around as much...)...in the family, and the boys that I grew up with (my brothers, cousins, their friends, etc.) gave me so much of my sense of humor, I think. Only one of my brothers was younger than me, Julie, and the trouble that I used to follow them into I can't describe here!

But, I wouldn't change a thing.

I do comb those days over.

Freespirit said:

Did you really swim in that water Julie?
/peace Manki

Yes I do, trying to drag out happy memories to make up for the bad ones. I keep putting off going back there to face old ghosts, I need to do it but just thinking about it makes me panic.

Some was good, some was bad

I just miss things being easier Being a grown up sucks ass

Julie, I've got an idea of what to do with my weekend. And I still owe you an orgnote. Thanks for sharing these!