Do you Remember Banana Seats and Sissy Bars?

     I was born in the 70's and, honestly, can't remember much back then but I do know that I was a happy child. A lot of my memories from that age come from pictures in old photo albums. I was the first child, so I was lucky to have tons of pictures of me to reminisce over.   
     I grew up in a square house, the same style and type that everyone else had on the block, just in different colors. It wasn't too far from a park that I used to walk to with my babysitter from time to time. I had a metal swing set in the back yard that was rusty and fun! If you pumped your legs hard enough while swinging, you could make the legs of the swing set come off the ground! The double seated swing was used as our bus, our car or any other form of transportation we needed.

     This house had two bedroom doors and a bathroom door all at the end of the hallway. My babysitter let a boy come over one day so I took yarn and wrapped it back and forth among all the doorknobs and tied it tight so that he couldn't go into any of our rooms or use our bathroom! Also, when my door was closed for the night, I could see a blue flashing light coming from underneath it from the television in the living room. Oh the weird things I remember!

     I ended up in the hospital as a toddler 3 times with pneumonia. I don't remember much about that time period either but a few memories have stuck with me over the years. One was the crib I was in with the plastic sheeted walls to hold in the humidity and my parents reaching in the holes on the side to touch me and comfort me. Another was the plain Jell-o they gave me that I threw up all over myself. I have never liked plain Jell-o since then. (Interesting Fact: one of my favorite desserts of all time is Strawberry Pretzel Jello Salad). I also remember having to get several shots on my one leg and cringing when the nurses came in because I was worried I would need another one. I think this is where I began to develop a fear of hospitals and it's why I never like to go into them even to visit someone who is sick or just had a baby. The smell that hits me when I walk in reminds me of being there as a child. I have been better now that I'm older and have had to have some surgeries since then, but it's never very comfortable for me.

     I sucked my thumb until I was in sixth grade. I know my mom thought it was soooooo cute when I was a baby, but it ended up being a very traumatic thing for me in my childhood years. I mostly did it at night, but I also did it when I was tired or stressed. As I got older, my mom realized that it had become an unbreakable habit and tried her best to help me break it. She would apply the nasty pepper liquid that was supposed to repulse me, but I learned to just tolerate it long enough to lick it off. One time she made me put my thumb on the bread board and threatened to cut it off. She is a wonderful mom and only had the best intentions and really thought she was helping me quit, but it was a very scary experience for me. In third grade, my teacher used to make me wash my hands whenever she would catch me sucking my thumb and when that went on long enough, she would make me stand in the corner. I remember going to bed at night wishing myself to sleep without sucking my thumb. I would hold on to the railings above my head until I did only to wake up in the morning with my thumb in my mouth again. I honestly don't know how I ever stopped, but I do remember thinking that I never would.
Other childhood memories:
     My Mom told me that I hid on the stairs to the basement and cut my dog, Kelly's hair. She opened the door to the basement and a bunch of hair came flying out everywhere. I don't think she was very happy with me. I can barely remember it myself though.

Bike with a banana seat

     My first bike was pretty cool. It had a banana seat and a basket. You were considered cool if you could ride your bike without sitting on the seat and you were even cooler if you had a sissy bar!

Bike with a really large sissy bar

At a family campout one year, I brought along my lemon twist toy. You played by putting your foot in the circle and start to swing it around and then jump over it with your other foot. The goal was to see how many times you could do it without messing up. It was quite the popular toy at the campout and I was not really good at sharing. My parents captured a picture of me crying because I had to share it with my brother.

          I have pictures of myself from a bunch of birthday parties celebrated, but don't have much memory of any of them. I do know that one kid got a bloody nose and had to put his head between his legs and pinch it until it stopped. I remember thinking how gross that was and that I didn't want to invite him to my parties ever again! Every picture I have from my birthday parties has me in a dress. My favorite dress from when I was young was blue floral with a ruffle bottom and a white pinafore on top that was embroidered with a big Tweety Bird!

     In third grade I didn't pass the eye exam at school and so I had to go to the eye doctor for glasses. My Mom was feeling pretty bad when we were driving home and I was putting them on and taking them off comparing what I could see with them versus what I couldn't see without them. "I didn't know there were so many leaves on the trees", "Look, those billboards have words and pictures on them!", "I can see my fingernails!". I guess I had pretty bad vision - 20/800. Back then glasses were not cool and neither were braces. The glasses I had to have in order to see, but the braces I avoided because I didn't want to be a "brace face" or "metal mouth" too. What was I thinking?

     I remember thinking that life would be easier when I grew up because no one could tell me what to do and I could do whatever I wanted! Boy, was I wrong!