…I walked to school uphill – both ways – in ten feet of snow. We know it’s an exaggeration, but surely we’ve all shared details of our childhood that aren’t exactly accurate. Even if we’re not intentionally being deceptive…I think our perspective changes as we get older. We misremember things.

Like my daughter who is convinced she fed French fries to the seals at SeaWorld because she has a photo of herself holding a container (of small fish) which looks like a red and white checkered French fry container. Or her memory of walking in the house ahead of her sister, who would have picked up a dead rat that was on the floor but avoided the catastrophe because her big sister saved the day. In reality, Courtney couldn’t even walk, so I was carrying her. We’d put out mouse poison before leaving on vacation, and there was a (small) dead mouse next to the stairs when we returned.

I was recently together with my family, and Mom had been sorting through the attic and set aside my sister Angie’s Barbie camper along with some other items. We decided to sift through everything. My other sister, Deb, began bemoaning the fact that she didn’t have a Barbie camper…or any other Barbie accessories for that matter. Then I remembered I had some type of Barbie home. I remembered the way the bunk beds folded down when the case was opened. Angie remembered it was a Barbie Snow Cabin. That’s right! I wondered aloud where it could have gone.

Tada! My nephew pulled it out of the box – Angie’s box! Chaos erupted. We each wanted to make sure no one else was wrongly getting our childhood stuff. We started tearing through Barbie clothes. All the while, Deb just stood there, saying over and over, “It can’t be mine, because I didn’t have any good Barbie stuff.” A flood of stories, memories and (light-hearted) accusations continued for quite some time. We laughed until we cried…and our husbands wisely kept their distance, probably thinking we’d lost our minds.

We hadn’t lost our minds, but I’m sure each of us was remembering with a bit of an individual slant!

What’s one of your favorite childhood memories?

How do you think you’ll remember today or this period of your life?

Remember, God is the One who makes you and us strong in Christ. God made us his chosen people. 1 Corinthians 1:21

By Susan,  Pure Purpose