#52 Stories--Story #10

What were your favorite hobbies or pastimes in your childhood?

As a kid I rode my bike to the neighbors' and played with friends like Susan, Lisa, Tracy, sometimes Brenda and Lainey. From the time I was about 10 I participated in 4H and we did a lot of things there--I raised dairy goats with some of the same girls. We spent a lot of weekends each summer showing the goaties and ended the summer with a week at the country fair.

I jumped on the trampoline with my sister and cousins when they visited and I just spent time in the weed field around our house.  I placed with my pets--Waldo, the wonder dog and the many cats we had over the years.

We always had chores to do but once we were done with those we were pretty free to do whatever we felt like.  I remember making forts in the weeds with Susan, a close neighbor. We played Barbies together and had a very busy imagination world outside in the dirt and weeds.

Tracy's family raised golden Labrador retrievers and she and I would put on shows for the dogs pretending to be the Carpenters or Sonny & Cher-like shows. We would sing along to her tape deck into the hoses near the dogs' kennels.

Lisa and Lainey lived further up the street and their families had horses.  I was never very comfortable on the horses, but they were sure beautiful and powerful and I wished I was good on them. They were a little scary to me still.

As I got older, I had friends in town like Julie and Jessica.  We'd bring our bikes to town and ride all over the sidewalks of Gilroy.  There were still Barbies to be played and imaginations to exercise.

We always had church things to do--Primary was held every Wednesday after school. We did that every week. I don't recall what kind of things were did, but it was a stable place with a lot of good friends that helped me feel right at home.

My grandparents moved in with us when I was about 7.  I learned to drive Grandpa's electric wheelchair--he even provided a "driving test" for us to that we had to pass to get his "driver's license" he had made for us. While my gram was still healthier, she did things with us that helped us use our imagination in new ways.  I remember her teaching me the basics of the right hand notes on her organ. I figured out how to play a few songs--just the right hand. She loved to play the organ and probably wanted to teach me more but I got busy doing other things and never finished lessons with her--or ever learned the left hand.

I gained an interest in photography through 4-H right away--I was 10 when my parents bought me a 35mm camera. After that I could entertain myself for hours with that camera--and the rolls of film I was always asking for. I loved the creativity I felt and I loved it when I got to work in the dark room under the direction of our 4H leader, Huck Hagenbuch.

I had a pretty idyllic childhood that way: lots of stuff to make up and do on our own.