I am fortunate to have three living siblings in my life. All now are grown up and have families of their own, but it is still fun to reminisce about what we did when we were younger. I am the oldest child in my family. So I remember events a little differently than if one of my other siblings were to tell the story. For those of weak stomach, or of flighty heart, you may find some of these funny childhood memories a little unsettling, but in fact they are what they are so I continue.
We were pretty crazy kids at times. I think because of the age differences- Maria is 3.5 years younger than me, Eddie is 7 years younger and Emily is 10 years younger-there were not a whole lot of things we did together, but still would like to focus on each individual sibling and how their lives affected me.
Edward Jr.
Eddie was always a different kind of boy. In Huntsville, Alabama, as a child, he would love to sing.. He would run around the yard with his bowl-cut haircut, without a shirt, and in his diapers while singing, "Sunshine, Sunshine, Sunshine" which is from the beloved children's album, "Nathaniel the Grubblet." I would pick him up and kiss him and take him back into the house to help my mom put some clothes on him so that he could play outside.
Later, my father got a new job, so we moved when I was 13 years old to Colorado. Three years later, we were in Rolla, Missouri. My then almost 10-year old brother would often keep to himself and go "hunting" with his slingshot and BB gun and shoot at squirrels and rabbits. However my parents had a rule about that. If he shot an animal, he had to bring it home and we had to eat it.
So, first he shot a squirrel with his slingshot. I will tell you that squirrel meat is interesting in flavor, but to see the squirrels eyes as you eat his innards is another experience all together. As reluctant as I was, I wanted to support my brother in his quest for manhood and I ate it carefully.
Then he shot a rabbit with the BB gun. Fortunately, it was shot in the head. However, because it was just a BB gun it only stunned the rabbit. I had to watch him break the rabbit's neck. Of course, since it was killed, my mother cooked up Rabbit Stew and some Rabbit meat to taste on the side. Because it took a while for the Rabbit to die, the meat was rather tough and dry. But I guess the meat tasted a lot like dry chicken, cooked in Red Cooking Wine. Not an acquired taste for sure.
After the Rabbit and the Squirrel, no more animals came home dead and I was happy for that, because then my brother became the avid explorer. He would go out "get lost" in the "woods" our backyard in Rolla, Missouri and explore the many aspects of the "woods". He would travel with Lacy, Maria's Cross-Beagle and his vivid imagination. I loved hearing about his adventures when he returned.
Two years later we moved to Minnesota. His new hobby had become Dog Sledding. So to encourage his new hobby which would last for almost six years, he bought Jessie, his Springer-Spaniel and would train and race her with his wagon and then got his first dogsled almost a year later. He would tie little booties on her feet so that her feet did not get cold, and they would sled everywhere. As he increased the amount of dogs, it was great to see him dress up in his "Mountain Man" look: fur cap, boots, rifle, pack for supplies strapped onto his sled, his dogs attached to the sled and watch and listen to him say "Mush!" I believe that meant, "Go!" He even gave me a ride on his sled one time. I fell off, because it was really scary!
In addition to his outdoors mentality, he learned how to play the violin. It was amazing how he could make the violin come alive with music!
I love my brother and I always wanted to encourage him to live his dreams. Now he is a great father to five lovely children and lives with his wife in Washington. But I will always remember him as a child.
Maria
Growing up with Maria really made childhood interesting, but I would not change it for my life. All the experiences I shared with Maria made life worth living. Even though we have our differences in Adulthood, we were inseparable as children.
When Maria was a baby she was colicky and hyperactive. She cried all the time and she seemed to want to eat all the time. But I was a great helper when we would go out to Denny's on Sunday afternoon, when we lived in Evansville, Indiana.
While Maria was busy keeping Mom and Dad busy, I would go outside and play with the neighborhood boy, Brian. He did not have any brothers or sisters so he did not know what the word, "Share" means. I thought he was a great friend, as he went to my preschool, but he was so selfish. One day, I asked to play with one of his toys. First he said, "Okay, you take this one." Then for no reason, he came to me, pushed me on the ground and bit my arm. He left teeth marks on my arm and it bruised up for one week. I cried so much, but in a way I was happy, because for once my parents were paying attention again to me, when Maria usually took all their attention. As many may know, this is normal for most children.
When we moved to Huntsville, I was three years old. Maria's colicky condition was much better and she and I started to become pretty good friends. However when she got a little older, old enough to walk and say a few words, we would play together often. We played so much that one day my mother asked me to take Maria outside and play with her in the sandbox. We played nicely. We had water and made sand castles.
Maria was also playing with these gray-lined balls in the sandbox. They were very small and rolled very nicely in the sand. Then one opened up. It was a bug! I picked it up and watched it roll back into a ball and let it crawl on my on my hand. As it crawled on my arm, I laughed as it tickled me with its legs. Maria giggled and laughed to. She told me that she wanted to taste it. At first I said, "No, Ria, it is not food." She said, "I will try. It looks good." Before I could stop her she popped it into her mouth and started chewing. "Oooohhh! Yummy! It tickles my tongue and my tummy." I was sick, and brushed her off and took her back into the house. I told my mom what happened. My mother was disgusted, but the only thing that could be done is wait to see if it came out the other way. And sure enough, a couple of days later, shells appeared.
She had her quirks, but she always saw the good in people. For some reason, even as a child she saw the inner beauty in everyone. There was this program that the city was sponsoring: Helping former addicts to get back out and help the community and live their lives. So this one man came to mow our grass. He had long stringy hair, his breath was smoky, and had emphysema. Maria looked out the window, and as he apparently glanced at us looking through the window. He smiled and tipped his hat. She said, "Oh, Mommy, he is so cute!" We all laughed at her, but now I realize that it was pretty special. She saw something in him that was good.
Maria is doing well these days. She is a Third Grade Teacher, a mother of two boys, and a has a loving husband. They seem to live happily in Northern Minnesota. Bugs or no bugs, Maria is a good sister whom shared many adventures with me in my childhood.
Emily
Maria might be embarrassed by what happened to her when she was a baby, but most of us as children eat interesting things, or do things that are so embarrassing. However, that is part of growing up. That is not the worst thing that we did. Maria and I did similar things to Emily. Unfortunately, since she and I got away with the sandbox incident, we would try to do the same with Emily.
One year, while we were vacationing in Florida, my father and we, his family, were invited to dinner at this fancy restaurant. It must have been a French restaurant in that they were serving Escargot. But as children we didn't see it as a delicacy, we saw it as Snails. So first we asked ourselves, "Why do rich people eat this stuff?" Then we thought, let us dish some up for Emily and make her eat it. Of course, we had to dig it out of the shell, as she was just a toddler, but we cut it into tiny pieces. She picked it up, put it into her mouth. We waited with anticipation; waiting for her to spit it out. Instead, she said, "Yummy! So Dewicious! I want more!" We were shocked! But Mom said to us, "Go get some more for your little sister." So, we happily dished up some more Escargot for Emily."
Emily, along with Maria also were blessed in that they know how to play the piano at concert level. They really inspired me to want to major in Music, but because of school politics that never happened.
I don't remember much growing up with Emily, as by the time she was three years old, I was a teenager. I wasn't selfish, it is just my extra curricular activities started to take precedence over being just the big sister. I do remember holding her and taking care of her, and being that big sister that loved her so much. But once we grew up, we maintained a better relationship. Now as she is an adult, she has two beautiful boys and her husband just finished Medical School. So, that Escargot just gave her that piece of "culture" that she needed in her life.
We were pretty crazy kids at times. I think because of the age differences- Maria is 3.5 years younger than me, Eddie is 7 years younger and Emily is 10 years younger-there were not a whole lot of things we did together, but still would like to focus on each individual sibling and how their lives affected me.
Edward Jr.
Eddie was always a different kind of boy. In Huntsville, Alabama, as a child, he would love to sing.. He would run around the yard with his bowl-cut haircut, without a shirt, and in his diapers while singing, "Sunshine, Sunshine, Sunshine" which is from the beloved children's album, "Nathaniel the Grubblet." I would pick him up and kiss him and take him back into the house to help my mom put some clothes on him so that he could play outside.
Later, my father got a new job, so we moved when I was 13 years old to Colorado. Three years later, we were in Rolla, Missouri. My then almost 10-year old brother would often keep to himself and go "hunting" with his slingshot and BB gun and shoot at squirrels and rabbits. However my parents had a rule about that. If he shot an animal, he had to bring it home and we had to eat it.
So, first he shot a squirrel with his slingshot. I will tell you that squirrel meat is interesting in flavor, but to see the squirrels eyes as you eat his innards is another experience all together. As reluctant as I was, I wanted to support my brother in his quest for manhood and I ate it carefully.
Then he shot a rabbit with the BB gun. Fortunately, it was shot in the head. However, because it was just a BB gun it only stunned the rabbit. I had to watch him break the rabbit's neck. Of course, since it was killed, my mother cooked up Rabbit Stew and some Rabbit meat to taste on the side. Because it took a while for the Rabbit to die, the meat was rather tough and dry. But I guess the meat tasted a lot like dry chicken, cooked in Red Cooking Wine. Not an acquired taste for sure.
After the Rabbit and the Squirrel, no more animals came home dead and I was happy for that, because then my brother became the avid explorer. He would go out "get lost" in the "woods" our backyard in Rolla, Missouri and explore the many aspects of the "woods". He would travel with Lacy, Maria's Cross-Beagle and his vivid imagination. I loved hearing about his adventures when he returned.
Two years later we moved to Minnesota. His new hobby had become Dog Sledding. So to encourage his new hobby which would last for almost six years, he bought Jessie, his Springer-Spaniel and would train and race her with his wagon and then got his first dogsled almost a year later. He would tie little booties on her feet so that her feet did not get cold, and they would sled everywhere. As he increased the amount of dogs, it was great to see him dress up in his "Mountain Man" look: fur cap, boots, rifle, pack for supplies strapped onto his sled, his dogs attached to the sled and watch and listen to him say "Mush!" I believe that meant, "Go!" He even gave me a ride on his sled one time. I fell off, because it was really scary!
In addition to his outdoors mentality, he learned how to play the violin. It was amazing how he could make the violin come alive with music!
I love my brother and I always wanted to encourage him to live his dreams. Now he is a great father to five lovely children and lives with his wife in Washington. But I will always remember him as a child.
Maria
Growing up with Maria really made childhood interesting, but I would not change it for my life. All the experiences I shared with Maria made life worth living. Even though we have our differences in Adulthood, we were inseparable as children.
When Maria was a baby she was colicky and hyperactive. She cried all the time and she seemed to want to eat all the time. But I was a great helper when we would go out to Denny's on Sunday afternoon, when we lived in Evansville, Indiana.
While Maria was busy keeping Mom and Dad busy, I would go outside and play with the neighborhood boy, Brian. He did not have any brothers or sisters so he did not know what the word, "Share" means. I thought he was a great friend, as he went to my preschool, but he was so selfish. One day, I asked to play with one of his toys. First he said, "Okay, you take this one." Then for no reason, he came to me, pushed me on the ground and bit my arm. He left teeth marks on my arm and it bruised up for one week. I cried so much, but in a way I was happy, because for once my parents were paying attention again to me, when Maria usually took all their attention. As many may know, this is normal for most children.
When we moved to Huntsville, I was three years old. Maria's colicky condition was much better and she and I started to become pretty good friends. However when she got a little older, old enough to walk and say a few words, we would play together often. We played so much that one day my mother asked me to take Maria outside and play with her in the sandbox. We played nicely. We had water and made sand castles.
Maria was also playing with these gray-lined balls in the sandbox. They were very small and rolled very nicely in the sand. Then one opened up. It was a bug! I picked it up and watched it roll back into a ball and let it crawl on my on my hand. As it crawled on my arm, I laughed as it tickled me with its legs. Maria giggled and laughed to. She told me that she wanted to taste it. At first I said, "No, Ria, it is not food." She said, "I will try. It looks good." Before I could stop her she popped it into her mouth and started chewing. "Oooohhh! Yummy! It tickles my tongue and my tummy." I was sick, and brushed her off and took her back into the house. I told my mom what happened. My mother was disgusted, but the only thing that could be done is wait to see if it came out the other way. And sure enough, a couple of days later, shells appeared.
She had her quirks, but she always saw the good in people. For some reason, even as a child she saw the inner beauty in everyone. There was this program that the city was sponsoring: Helping former addicts to get back out and help the community and live their lives. So this one man came to mow our grass. He had long stringy hair, his breath was smoky, and had emphysema. Maria looked out the window, and as he apparently glanced at us looking through the window. He smiled and tipped his hat. She said, "Oh, Mommy, he is so cute!" We all laughed at her, but now I realize that it was pretty special. She saw something in him that was good.
Maria is doing well these days. She is a Third Grade Teacher, a mother of two boys, and a has a loving husband. They seem to live happily in Northern Minnesota. Bugs or no bugs, Maria is a good sister whom shared many adventures with me in my childhood.
Emily
Maria might be embarrassed by what happened to her when she was a baby, but most of us as children eat interesting things, or do things that are so embarrassing. However, that is part of growing up. That is not the worst thing that we did. Maria and I did similar things to Emily. Unfortunately, since she and I got away with the sandbox incident, we would try to do the same with Emily.
One year, while we were vacationing in Florida, my father and we, his family, were invited to dinner at this fancy restaurant. It must have been a French restaurant in that they were serving Escargot. But as children we didn't see it as a delicacy, we saw it as Snails. So first we asked ourselves, "Why do rich people eat this stuff?" Then we thought, let us dish some up for Emily and make her eat it. Of course, we had to dig it out of the shell, as she was just a toddler, but we cut it into tiny pieces. She picked it up, put it into her mouth. We waited with anticipation; waiting for her to spit it out. Instead, she said, "Yummy! So Dewicious! I want more!" We were shocked! But Mom said to us, "Go get some more for your little sister." So, we happily dished up some more Escargot for Emily."
Emily, along with Maria also were blessed in that they know how to play the piano at concert level. They really inspired me to want to major in Music, but because of school politics that never happened.
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