Q & A Childhood Memories

[Nevon]

Hey guys! I just thought of a character question. Since it's the New Year, it's also a good time to reflect on our past. What is a favorite childhood memory of your character? It could be an event, a meeting or a toy, or even just their earliest memory.

 

[Chase]

Nice question. I'm going to go with a favorite memory.

The year was 1984 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was in theaters. I was 6 years old, my father was coming home from 3 months of work abroad. He searched everywhere for an Indiana Jones action figure for me and had to delay his trip by a few hours.

By the time he did arrive, I was so excited my father was home that I'd forgotten about wanting the thing. To this day, I don't remember what happened to the action figure, I only remember seeing him pull it out of a bag and us going fishing upstate the day after.

 

[Deric Storm]

One of my favorite memories was my second winter in Nebraska. It snowed about a foot overnight. It was awesome waking up looking outside my bedroom window and seeing what looked like the whole world draped in white. Me and my friends spent all day just playing outside, sledding, building forts and having a huge snowball fight.

 

[Zack]

I remember being nine at a Monaghan family fourth of July barbecue. My dad was supposed to be watching me but he hadn't seen his SWAT buddies in a while and so he was busy cooking and talking. Somehow I thought it would be a good idea to pretend to be a military sniper at the crux of a hostage situation and get up on the stairway, to get a clearer shot I stuck my head through the banisters.

When I tried to pull away, I couldn't get out and realized that I was fully stuck. I didn't cry for help or anything, I just stayed there and I think I eventually fell asleep. There was a bit of a ruckus when no one knew where I was.

It took an entire block of butter to squeeze me out later.

 

[Jason West]

One of my favorite childhood memories would have to be when my father took me to work with him. He worked at an automobile manufacturing plant in Detroit. I used to enjoy watching the designers work on creating models for the next years production line. It inspired me to become an engineer and thus the man I am today.

 

[Lee]

Best memory as a kid was when I snuck out of school through the fence during recess in the 3rd grade, met up with a bum and he let me try my first cigarette. A crossing guard from the school found me and thought the bum lured me out of school. Bum ran away and I got all sorts of sympathy for being so brave.

 

[Joe Kerr]

My favourite childhood memory was learning the Three Card Monte from Willy. He used to fool me all the time with that trick and it was only a year later at Christmas when he gave the secret to me as a Christmas gift.

After that, I used to practice that trick every day during my spare time and use it to fool poor unsuspecting kids in whichever city we visited.

Oh the chocolates and lunch money I used to scam from them...good times.

 

[Nace Bilby]

There's an old photograph at my home in Johannesburg. It shows my sister Rey at three and me as an infant on our sofa. Between us was the newest addition to the family, a Boerbel (a South African mastiff) as a puppy. He had a red ribbon around his neck that Rey had tied there.

Dad called him Ajax, after the ancient Greek warrior from the Iliad because of his great size. He wanted him for the family to protect us when he would be sent on missions with the South African military.

The dog and I grew up together. He loved the children of the family, but I was the closest to him. He'd always wait for us to come home from school (and occasionally Mum took him to school to pick us up) lying by the door and then when we'd get home his tail would wag mightily and he'd greet us with several licks.

With his enthusiasm and great size he occasionally would knock one of us over. But he would never let us out of his sight as we grew up.

Mum used to say he was our 100 kilogram baby sibling. But sadly he passed away, having lived a long life of seventeen years.

It often made me feel a bit misty eyed to realize as my life grew his life retracted. Two days before I left to enlist in the South African Army at seventeen he fell asleep one more time, never to awaken.

My first paycheck went to buying a small headstone for him, a little memorial for the front yard.

 

[Ennai]

One of my favorite memories happened on a sunny day in 1992. I was playing All-Star softball in the summer, and both my parents had shown up, which was a rarity. I ended up carpooling more often than not, but a lot of times Dad drove. Mom had been sequestering herself for what felt like eternity because she was nearing the end of her dissertation, so it felt like a special occasion when she said that she was coming with us to my practice.

I think everyone was a little taken aback when they met her. She was an athletically built woman with short, jet black hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. She was a tour de force who screamed of life and edginess. She was sharp and fearless and passionate. Dad was, in comparison, solid and friendly, if a tad reserved. He was intelligent and exact and respectful. He was passionate, but it ran like a deep well as opposed to her electric fire. His brown hair had been dusty blonde when he was younger and his blue eyes that were clear as the sky.

Despite their stark contrast, they shared a certain kind of strength. They were in synch and they were magnetic. They balanced each other out, but, most importantly, they were partners in all the ways it mattered, and it showed. It was infectious. Everyone became a little more alive that practice.

We went to the Marina afterwards, and Dad ran down an ice cream truck for me. I remember eating clam chowder in a bread bowl, while my parents teased each other and argued about politics. My mom climbed boulders with me, and we compared tidal pools. Dad taught me how to fly a kite. It was a perfect day.

 

[Ivy]

I was going to talk about that time it took an entire stick of butter to dislodge Zack's head from the stairway banister but I guess he beat me to the punch.

My memory has to do with one of the hikes I used to go on with my dad.

Excerpt from Nov 29, 2012 Auld Lang Syne (carmensandiego.info)

"When she was growing up in San Francisco, Ivy's father used to drive her and Zack to Glen Canyon Park during the summer. He'd let them run--usually without much supervision--through the rocky terrain and surrounding forests. Liam Monaghan's only clause was that his children must come back with scrapes, grass stains or at least evidence that they had done something productive that day... the more tired and beat up they looked, the better chances they had of getting ice cream on the way home. So it became somewhat ingrained into Ivy's subconscious that days should never be wasted, and hard work had its rewards."

One of my favorite things to do was climb the stones which shot out from the hillside. As a child I thought each looked like animals, there was a turtle, whale and elephant. I lost my grip while tackling one of them and hit my head. It was warmer day and when I got up I felt dizzy, but figured it was just the heat. Wiping my forehead I realized then that there was quite a bit of blood on my arm. My ever vigilant father rushed over and drove me to the hospital. I don't remember very much, but he asked me what I was doing and I replied that I was 'climbing a unicorn'.

I got seven stitches on my brow, the scar is still faintly visible there. He bought me a stuffed unicorn (which I think was from the hospital gift shop) and I named it Tank.

 

[Lucy]

My favorite memory would have to be the times mom and I went camping the weekends she had off work. When I was eight, we were hiking to a historic castle on our way to our campsite.

I kept asking how long it would be until we arrived, so mom asked me if I wanted to see the castle now. I looked at her confused while she started climbing this huge tree. She motioned me to follow.

It was my first time up a tree. I thought it was going to be scary, but it ended up being relaxing and I loved the sense of freedom. It helped me forget my troubles and made me feel as if I was bonding with mom.