I was putting some finishing touches on my presentation for Relief Society Meeting on Thursday, which included taking some pictures of my old journals. It also included me reading entries to Andrew from my very first journals and laughing until I couldn't talk anymore. And hyperventilating because I'm supposed to talk for fifteen minutes and how am I supposed to do that?!
In my journal from grade two I was blathering on about something and mentioned that I was writing a whole lot and even went so far to accuse myself of being a chatterbox. "You're not," my teacher (Mrs. Matsumoto) had written back. Man, I spent half that year counting down how many pages I had left until I filled the book. It made reading consecutive entries rather humorous.
But then I found my journal from grade three and it's a little less funny. There was a lot of serious stuff that happened this year. I suppose there was some serious stuff that happened the previous years, but I was oblivious to a lot of it.
Mon. Sept. 27th
On Sunday my sister left for albrta. Yesterday she got to my grandma's and grandpa's house. And she gave me her room until she comes back, wich is in December. My brother David said that I got the biggest good-bye present. On Sunday morning she left at five o-clak, so my mom got me up at five o-clak to say good-bye. And now I have three choses to sleep. In my (both) brother's room because they have a bunk bed and they both sleep on the botom bunk. And my sister Abbi's room because she has a bunk bed and in my other sisters room because she gone unil Dec.
And then I talk about big life problems like conflicting birthday parties and football games (I guess we went to one of my cousin's football games?! I have no recollection of this) and how tragic it was that Halloween fell on a Sunday and we couldn't go trick-or-treating because my mom said "thier is getting to much vilins." But, phew, it was okay because we ended up having a ward party at the church where we had supper at 5:00 and stayed up until 8:00 playing games and watching movies.
Mon. Nov. 15th
On Thursday I got a wiggly tooth. And I backed cookies. My big sister had her baby but she gave it up. And the poeple who adopted the baby told my sister a story. She said, "When I found out I could not have a baby I cryed. I said a prayre and asked that sombody might come and vist me and your baby was that girl, only she was a grown up. The frist time I went to go adpet a baby it was not her. The secondt time it was your baby and it was her."
In response my teacher, Mrs. Robertson, wrote, "It must have been hard for your big sister."
I must say, Rachel has better handwriting and spelling than I did when I was her age. Seriously. I was a terrible speller. But I think my teacher let it slide because she thought my family was crazy because wait until you hear this next entry...
(click bait)
Mon. Nov. 22nd
My Mom is going to have a baby. If its a girl its name is going to Josie. I think thats how you spell it. If it's a boy its going to be Neal. My mom says it probrly going to be a girl because I wanted a girl and I got a brother. Patrick want's a boy and so it's probrly going to be a girl.
In response Mrs. Robertson wrote, "You're going to have a big family!"
Now that I'm all grown up with four kids of my own I know that's polite speech for, "You're crazy!"
I also appreciate my brother a whole lot more now than I did then. You know I love you, right Patrick?
By Monday, November 29th we learn that my tooth just "ploped out" and my mom also thinks the baby is going to be a girl because it has a "raped hart beat." That would be rapid, for clarification's sake.
Mon. March 29th
My mom contraceshons where ten min apart yesterday. And on my spring braek I went to the fair...
Wed. April 6th
On the long weekend my brother and I bought a stiker book from my sister Abra for 1.00$. The amount we hae now is 598 stikers.
My little sister was born the day after that fateful sticker book transaction. I was, I believe, at the gymnasium at Dogwood Park practicing for the May Pole dance when my dad came to check us out from school to meet her. But I didn't write about it in my journal because we kept them at school and only wrote once a week. The next entry is a few weeks later, but look at how sweet my new little sister is:
Mon. April 25th
Yesterday I went to my sister's shower. It was fun. Well, maybe I'm not telling the truth...it's Chandiler's, to! I think he was born 5 days after my sister was born. He may be younger but he's bigger.
Chandler was the baby of our neighbours across the street—Brent and Midori Walter. Brent's brother is Ryan Walter, an NHL player (go, Canucks!). The Stanley Cup playoffs that year (1994) was between the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers, so if you think having the brother of a hockey player live across the street from me was no big deal, you'd be wrong. Because it was the biggest deal.
If I could find the picture of all of us in our Canuck fan gear I'd post it...but I can't find it. Anyone know where that picture is? My pigtails are fantastic.
It was fun to flip through my journal from grade three. Now that I have a daughter that age (for real?!) it was good to go for a jog down memory lane, to think about things that were important/confusing/challenging/lame/fun for me at that age.
I feel like I relate quite a bit to Rachel, what with that annoying little brother (sorry Patrick and Benjamin...but...let's be honest) and new baby sister in the house. And, oh, the woes of learning multiplication and cursive!
Although our family went through some pretty hard things that year and although I know it affected our family life, I really don't think I dwelt on it too much because if I can say, "On Thursday I got a wiggly tooth. And I baked cookies. My big sister had her baby but she gave it up," all on one line, well, things were just fine.
So that gives me hope that things are just fine now, too.
Do you ever have those days where you wonder if you're really messing up your children's childhood because you have no idea what you're doing as a parent? Well, I do. But, you know, our little family now is dealing with a whole lot less stress than my family had to deal with when I was growing up (not that we're "better"; we've simply received fewer curve balls) so although I can't see into the future, I'm pretty sure my kids are going to be just fine when they grow up.
In my journal from grade two I was blathering on about something and mentioned that I was writing a whole lot and even went so far to accuse myself of being a chatterbox. "You're not," my teacher (Mrs. Matsumoto) had written back. Man, I spent half that year counting down how many pages I had left until I filled the book. It made reading consecutive entries rather humorous.
But then I found my journal from grade three and it's a little less funny. There was a lot of serious stuff that happened this year. I suppose there was some serious stuff that happened the previous years, but I was oblivious to a lot of it.
Mon. Sept. 27th
On Sunday my sister left for albrta. Yesterday she got to my grandma's and grandpa's house. And she gave me her room until she comes back, wich is in December. My brother David said that I got the biggest good-bye present. On Sunday morning she left at five o-clak, so my mom got me up at five o-clak to say good-bye. And now I have three choses to sleep. In my (both) brother's room because they have a bunk bed and they both sleep on the botom bunk. And my sister Abbi's room because she has a bunk bed and in my other sisters room because she gone unil Dec.
And then I talk about big life problems like conflicting birthday parties and football games (I guess we went to one of my cousin's football games?! I have no recollection of this) and how tragic it was that Halloween fell on a Sunday and we couldn't go trick-or-treating because my mom said "thier is getting to much vilins." But, phew, it was okay because we ended up having a ward party at the church where we had supper at 5:00 and stayed up until 8:00 playing games and watching movies.
Mon. Nov. 15th
On Thursday I got a wiggly tooth. And I backed cookies. My big sister had her baby but she gave it up. And the poeple who adopted the baby told my sister a story. She said, "When I found out I could not have a baby I cryed. I said a prayre and asked that sombody might come and vist me and your baby was that girl, only she was a grown up. The frist time I went to go adpet a baby it was not her. The secondt time it was your baby and it was her."
In response my teacher, Mrs. Robertson, wrote, "It must have been hard for your big sister."
I must say, Rachel has better handwriting and spelling than I did when I was her age. Seriously. I was a terrible speller. But I think my teacher let it slide because she thought my family was crazy because wait until you hear this next entry...
(click bait)
Mon. Nov. 22nd
My Mom is going to have a baby. If its a girl its name is going to Josie. I think thats how you spell it. If it's a boy its going to be Neal. My mom says it probrly going to be a girl because I wanted a girl and I got a brother. Patrick want's a boy and so it's probrly going to be a girl.
In response Mrs. Robertson wrote, "You're going to have a big family!"
Now that I'm all grown up with four kids of my own I know that's polite speech for, "You're crazy!"
 |
| "Why did I have to have a brother? Why can't I be just alone? Why did I have to have a brother? I'd rather be just on my own." (circa 1989) |
By Monday, November 29th we learn that my tooth just "ploped out" and my mom also thinks the baby is going to be a girl because it has a "raped hart beat." That would be rapid, for clarification's sake.
Mon. March 29th
My mom contraceshons where ten min apart yesterday. And on my spring braek I went to the fair...
Wed. April 6th
On the long weekend my brother and I bought a stiker book from my sister Abra for 1.00$. The amount we hae now is 598 stikers.
My little sister was born the day after that fateful sticker book transaction. I was, I believe, at the gymnasium at Dogwood Park practicing for the May Pole dance when my dad came to check us out from school to meet her. But I didn't write about it in my journal because we kept them at school and only wrote once a week. The next entry is a few weeks later, but look at how sweet my new little sister is:
 |
| Me holding Josie, sitting with my BFFs and next-door neighbours: Mila, Vanessa, and Gina (1994) |
Yesterday I went to my sister's shower. It was fun. Well, maybe I'm not telling the truth...it's Chandiler's, to! I think he was born 5 days after my sister was born. He may be younger but he's bigger.
Chandler was the baby of our neighbours across the street—Brent and Midori Walter. Brent's brother is Ryan Walter, an NHL player (go, Canucks!). The Stanley Cup playoffs that year (1994) was between the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers, so if you think having the brother of a hockey player live across the street from me was no big deal, you'd be wrong. Because it was the biggest deal.
If I could find the picture of all of us in our Canuck fan gear I'd post it...but I can't find it. Anyone know where that picture is? My pigtails are fantastic.
It was fun to flip through my journal from grade three. Now that I have a daughter that age (for real?!) it was good to go for a jog down memory lane, to think about things that were important/confusing/challenging/lame/fun for me at that age.
I feel like I relate quite a bit to Rachel, what with that annoying little brother (sorry Patrick and Benjamin...but...let's be honest) and new baby sister in the house. And, oh, the woes of learning multiplication and cursive!
Although our family went through some pretty hard things that year and although I know it affected our family life, I really don't think I dwelt on it too much because if I can say, "On Thursday I got a wiggly tooth. And I baked cookies. My big sister had her baby but she gave it up," all on one line, well, things were just fine.
So that gives me hope that things are just fine now, too.
Do you ever have those days where you wonder if you're really messing up your children's childhood because you have no idea what you're doing as a parent? Well, I do. But, you know, our little family now is dealing with a whole lot less stress than my family had to deal with when I was growing up (not that we're "better"; we've simply received fewer curve balls) so although I can't see into the future, I'm pretty sure my kids are going to be just fine when they grow up.
I will look for the Canucks gear picture. That was the BEST hockey year ever! So much pulling together in Greater Vancouver!
ReplyDeleteAnd also Josie kind of looks like Baby Z only with hair. And also big family is polite speech for you're crazy!!! Ahaha!
DeleteAlso: Mrs. Robertson.
DeleteYes! You're right. It's Robertson. :)
DeleteI love this post. You know, I hadn't made the connection until reading this that when I was Gareth's age I was watching my mom battle cancer. That's a pretty sucky way to spend 3rd grade. And now I have a kid who is the age I was then! By comparison moving him 15 minutes away from all his friends is pretty minor. And my letting the kids eat all their Halloween candy in a week seems like a very uneventful parenting choice. If that's the worst he has to experience in his childhood and from my parenting, he, too, will be just fine.
ReplyDelete