This summer, my parents are moving to a new home. It’s a bittersweet experience for all of us. The new place is a charming little cottage on Cape Cod – so that’s the happy part.
But they have lived in the home from which they are moving for close to 56 years. They raised six children there – me included! 😉
So many happy memories in the old place . . . we’ll miss it quite a lot, but it was time for them to move on.
Recently, we all joked about how on earth we could move the “family growth chart”, which is simply a narrow strip of wall where, for a lifetime, my Dad has presided over the measuring of each one of us. In the earliest years, it was my siblings and I who were asked to “stand up straight”, as we backed up, heels against the wall, and he marked our heights with a little line, drawn in pencil, and then added names and dates.
The years flew by and eventually we were bringing husbands and wives to visit. Dad would always encourage them to have their heights recorded alongside our own. It was a family tradition by then, and we all enjoyed watching the growth chart – GROW!
Finally our babies arrived, one by one – his grandchildren! And they in turn were added. None of us ever considered this little bit of graffiti to be undesirable. Here was a case of where it was definitely ok to write on the wall!
Somehow, we are going to have to come up with a way to transport this strip of wall to the new place. A growth chart might seem like a little thing, but to us – it means a lot!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Just a reminder that the GIVEAWAY for July (click here to see it) is still running and all comments for this month count as entries.
Today’s question is:
~Describe a schoolyard game that you played with your friends when you were a kid.
or
~Write the first few lines of a song you remember singing while jumping rope! 😀
Hugs,
O Brother!! Jump rope songs! That was 50 years ago!! Somewhere floating around my memory is recalling the words to one. Just about the time my salesmen start coming into work today, the words to one of those stinking songs is going to pop right up to the top then I’ll be thinking it all day. I’m gonna have to put Aerosmith on and blast it right back to where its hiding now. Thanks!! ~lol~
OK, marbles. Each person put a marble in the hole (pot) we dug in the ground. Then you stood about 100 yards away and rolled your shooter into the pot to see who would win all the marbles. Well, I can’t remember how far away the line was, but it wasn’t too close or too far. That game is probably why I love to play poker so much. Put your money in the pot..winner takes all.
Still trying to avoid remembering those lyrics.
Have a wonderful day remembering yours and humming it all day!!
xx, Carol
Red Rover send Crystal over!
We played hopscotch, in-between tag, and we made things out of string like jacob’s ladder and cats whiskers.
I had a great weekend and I got a nice email from my teacher thanking me for coming to class always prepared. I was thrilled to get an A in his class. The baby was so good at her christening yesterday and we arrived home safe and sound last night.
For the growth chart, you could always trace it onto a few taped sheets of paper. With tracing paper, you could then lay it over a strip of fabric and embroider the heights and names in different colors! My mom’s got a paper copy of my growth chart;it’s actually in my medical files, too!
Playground games…most of what I played had no names. It was stuff like Hang on to This Tree and Touch The Other Tree, or Balance on the Tire Without Falling Over, or Hey Wasn’t There A Scorpion There, Let’s Find It. Very fun games, all:).
Hi Carol!
“All in together, Girls . . .”
“A” my name is Alice, my husband’s name is Al . . .”
Sorry! 😉
xo
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Lol, Clenna!
Besides during the school year, we also played that game in the summer – for HOURS!!! Lot’s of fun!
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Oh Kelly, I just knew you’d get an “A”!
Congratulations! 😀
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Great suggestion, Cara!
Thank you! 😀
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Aw, Lori,
I love your words:
“but by way of their hearts” 😀
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AmandaSue,
You’ve given me more food for thought!
Thank you, too! 😀
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P.S. Did anyone play games by throwing a tennis ball against a wall while doing various tricks while the ball was in the air? A song accompanied this game, too.
wow….that is a tall order trying to figure out how to move that growth-chart wall (truly, no pun intended!!!)! i hope that this move goes smoothly for your parents…..lots and lots of things to put into boxes, and the memories will go too, but by way of their hearts…..xox, :))
Your growth chart memory is great 🙂 Maybe you could trace it on paper and then have the paper laminated? Or maybe take pictures of it and have the pictures blown up? It definately sounds like a memory that you want to keep forever!
Oh heck…I say just cut that piece of wall out and replace it! I’d take it no matter what…it’s way too precious to leave.
…we come from Alabama, and we eat apples! (I’m sorry too, Carol!)
xoxo Paulette
My mom had a similar growth chart she took from our house of 15 years in Florida. Sweet sweet memories 🙂
All the games we used to play as a kid were pool games, sharks and minnows, marco polo, and my sister and I invented a game called Dolphin Trainer, which we only played when I was sick of swimming for the day but she wasn’t, so I just got to get out of the pool and boss her (the dolphin) around!
tag… and it involved planting a kiss on the boy!