Favorite childhood years?

I was very blessed to live in a neighborhood of about 60 houses that was in the town but a little isolated on a mountaintop. We had enough kids and back yards to field 2 full teams of of the big 3 (baseball basketball football) so from age 6 to18 were my greatest memories. Even today when I see old friends we talk about how unique it was.
 
I was born in 65. The first house i can remember is when I was maybe 3 years old. I have vivid memories of different holidays and family gatherings there.

I didn't know it then but that house was really bad but we were happy.

The next house I remember very well. It had tall pines and cedars in the back yard, I would climb them and when I smell firs now it reminds me if that time.

My uncle was killed in Vietnam in 1970 and I remember the day we got the news. Very sad time, his name was Virgil Bixby and he used to play with me a lot. I remember him well.

We never had much money growing up but I never realized that. We just seemed normal????

Funny thing is I remember the way the paint in the elementary school restroom smelled and when I smell that smell today it reminds me of that. Weird

When I was in Jr High my folks created an uncomfortable environment at home which eventually led to divorce.


I worked on a neighbors farm at an early age, 5th grade is when I started that. It was more productive for me to be there than home. My middle brother and I discovered dirt bikes at the beginning of high school. Mom forbid motorcycles so we bought them and kept them on the farm. She never knew.

Some of my most fun times were me and my brother and all the other kids in the area riding our dirt bikes on Sundays. We would ride all day and it was a kind of freedom that just felt too good to put into words. Probably why I still ride dirt and street today.

I am going to be 57 this year. I've lost all of my grandparents and a lot of friends, it has created a world I just want to put on hold but can't. In a few more years wife and I won't have parents alive anymore and it will be us at the reigns. That is kind of hard to wrap my head around.

I'm a stubborn SOB and whatever roadblocks or obstacles I've encountered have been pushed to the side and forgotten. Wife and I are very close to retirement and we're looking forward to it.

I don't have many regrets and everything I've experienced good and bad got me here. Probably wouldn't change a thing.

If you don't learn and grow from life experiences then you never were alive.
 
gush said:
If you don't learn and grow from life experiences then you never were alive.
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True, that.

"Les, you're an old fart, and you still repeat mistakes. Clearly, you were never alive."

"Hey, I was definitely alive until...let's see...hmmm...the Ides of Mercandonius in the Year of the Consuls Aemelius Lepidus and Lutatius Catulus. Pretty sure that's the first time I repeated a mistake."

"Which means you've been dead for..."

"Yeah. A long time. ;)"
 
I had a great childhood, great family and great parents. So it was all pretty good, but I’ll comply with the thread topic and say, my favorite had to be my late teens, 16-19. By 16 I was driving. I had a string of convertibles. What could be better at 16-17? High school was easy, and I was there more to socialize than to learn, so it was fun. I was working just enough to afford running around to drive-ins on weekends, and all needed party supplies. I had girlfriends. I was kind of popular. I had started playing guitar by 15, and by 16 I was pretty decent. By 16 I was all league and all district in two sports. By 18 I was all state in two sports and playing a 3rd, and had gotten pretty decent-er on guitar. By 18-19 I was playing two sports in college and thinking I had everything in life that it took to be really happy… I didn’t have money, but I didn’t really have any real responsibility, so life was just easy and great. Carefree, fun, doing almost everything I wanted to do and nothing I didn’t.

I have often joked that I was going to get one of those tshirts that said “peaked in high school” because on some levels, that is true. I was popular, had lots of friends, known around my area for sports and guitar, etc. Now, my 20s were great as well. Adding money to the equation almost offset the joy I lost be not being in school. With no internet, you lost touch with many of your best friends pretty quickly after high school, and many of the others were only occasionally around. But stepping into the working world brought money, and guitars and stereo equipment, etc. But that, to me, always represented the end of childhood. Gotta be a man now, you know.

So while my whole childhood was great, I’d go with late teens as the best times.
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
I had a great childhood, great family and great parents. So it was all pretty good, but I’ll comply with the thread topic and say, my favorite had to be my late teens, 16-19. By 16 I was driving. I had a string of convertibles. What could be better at 16-17? High school was easy, and I was there more to socialize than to learn, so it was fun. I was working just enough to afford running around to drive-ins on weekends, and all needed party supplies. I had girlfriends. I was kind of popular. I had started playing guitar by 15, and by 16 I was pretty decent. By 16 I was all league and all district in two sports. By 18 I was all state in two sports and playing a 3rd, and had gotten pretty decent-er on guitar. By 18-19 I was playing two sports in college and thinking I had everything in life that it took to be really happy… I didn’t have money, but I didn’t really have any real responsibility, so life was just easy and great. Carefree, fun, doing almost everything I wanted to do and nothing I didn’t.

I have often joked that I was going to get one of those tshirts that said “peaked in high school” because on some levels, that is true. I was popular, had lots of friends, known around my area for sports and guitar, etc. Now, my 20s were great as well. Adding money to the equation almost offset the joy I lost be not being in school. With no internet, you lost touch with many of your best friends pretty quickly after high school, and many of the others were only occasionally around. But stepping into the working world brought money, and guitars and stereo equipment, etc. But that, to me, always represented the end of childhood. Gotta be a man now, you know.

So while my whole childhood was great, I’d go with late teens as the best times.
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Yeah 17 and the rest was kind of a blur until I graduated college. Then my dad was quick to remind me, he did pretty well, but I was officially a working man, and I was on my own. In other words his money was his, not mine. So the party went on until I was about 30, but since it was on my dime...that 8 years after school was a real eye opener so I slammed on the party brakes.
 
I think I had a wonderful childhood. Lived in a very small town, we had a small farm, mom & dad both worked in a grocery store in the next town, we had a musical family (I've mentioned it before) and we had regular evenings with the piano and my aunt's violin when she was in town. There was a large military airfield just a couple miles away so every other day was an airshow. Our house was on a lakeshore and we had a boat and swimming was right there if we didn't mind the rocky shore, but the town beach park was an easy walk away. Shared a small bedroom with my two older brothers, and we had a b&w tv that on a good evening we got two channels. We raised chickens and turkeys in the backyard (you could still do that in the early 60's) and had a huge garden. We weren't destitute by any means, but we had few belongings to speak of. But we were never hungry and had clothes to wear, even if they were often patched and mended. Small towns always made for lots of friends in the neighborhood and cousins, aunts and uncles were only a block away, grand parents next door or close by too. Winters were long and cold, our house had likely the poorest heating (but that was the norm for the day) you could imagine, but we managed to stay warm enough. But the summers were an endless playground of childhood fun and frolic. Of which, we made our own of course: kick the can at dusk/dark, anti-I-over, playing catch with a rubber ball, racing popsicle sticks down the ditch after a rain, catching bugs, garter snakes, playing with the dog. Life was so simple but so very sweet. I think it was a time when our world was happier than it could ever be now. Maybe it's true that time makes memory remember only the good stuff, and the "bad" stuff was another time and place that only was spoken of in hushed tones as you walked under the shadow of the air-raid siren tower to the ball diamond; the siren only sounded at the time the street lights came on signaling it was curfew hour (none of us really understood the significance of it, you just went home when it rang out). A small Coke was a nickel at the corner store if you left the bottle when you were done, and a loaf of sliced fresh bread was also a nickel at the neighborhood bakery. Breakfast was always at the kitchen/dining table, and so was the evening meal. Sunday family dinner was never missed, and Saturday night's meal you could hear the hockey game on tv, but you never, ever ate and watched it in the living room. Going to church was a given, as well as the Church suppers and picnics, bake sales, and bazaars. We did our expected chores, homework if there was, made our beds, and picked up after ourselves. And nobody griped about not having what the rich kids or families had. You were thankful for what you had, period. In retrospect, I think we really had so much more in many ways. In that, I feel truly blessed for the upbringing I had. I wouldn't change it for the world.
 
Daryl Jones said:
I think I had a wonderful childhood. Lived in a very small town, we had a small farm, mom & dad both worked in a grocery store in the next town, we had a musical family (I've mentioned it before) and we had regular evenings with the piano and my aunt's violin when she was in town. There was a large military airfield just a couple miles away so every other day was an airshow. Our house was on a lakeshore and we had a boat and swimming was right there if we didn't mind the rocky shore, but the town beach park was an easy walk away. Shared a small bedroom with my two older brothers, and we had a b&w tv that on a good evening we got two channels. We raised chickens and turkeys in the backyard (you could still do that in the early 60's) and had a huge garden. We weren't destitute by any means, but we had few belongings to speak of. But we were never hungry and had clothes to wear, even if they were often patched and mended. Small towns always made for lots of friends in the neighborhood and cousins, aunts and uncles were only a block away, grand parents next door or close by too. Winters were long and cold, our house had likely the poorest heating (but that was the norm for the day) you could imagine, but we managed to stay warm enough. But the summers were an endless playground of childhood fun and frolic. Of which, we made our own of course: kick the can at dusk/dark, anti-I-over, playing catch with a rubber ball, racing popsicle sticks down the ditch after a rain, catching bugs, garter snakes, playing with the dog. Life was so simple but so very sweet. I think it was a time when our world was happier than it could ever be now. Maybe it's true that time makes memory remember only the good stuff, and the "bad" stuff was another time and place that only was spoken of in hushed tones as you walked under the shadow of the air-raid siren tower to the ball diamond; the siren only sounded at the time the street lights came on signaling it was curfew hour (none of us really understood the significance of it, you just went home when it rang out). A small Coke was a nickel at the corner store if you left the bottle when you were done, and a loaf of sliced fresh bread was also a nickel at the neighborhood bakery. Breakfast was always at the kitchen/dining table, and so was the evening meal. Sunday family dinner was never missed, and Saturday night's meal you could hear the hockey game on tv, but you never, ever ate and watched it in the living room. Going to church was a given, as well as the Church suppers and picnics, bake sales, and bazaars. We did our expected chores, homework if there was, made our beds, and picked up after ourselves. And nobody griped about not having what the rich kids or families had. You were thankful for what you had, period. In retrospect, I think we really had so much more in many ways. In that, I feel truly blessed for the upbringing I had. I wouldn't change it for the world.
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I liked reading about your childhood because it reminded me of mine in many respects. It was life as we knew it and it all ticked along just fine without computers. Wonders were designed with pencil, paper and a drafting table. Families were much closer than they are today and you just knew just about everybody who lived on your street. I think just about everybody I knew back then went to church every Sunday regardless of their faith. Our family wasn't rich by any means but we never lacked for anything and we certainly weren't spoiled. If we got too out of hand we would feel our dad's hand across our back sides and I think it did us all a world of good. Best part....kids could be kids and they were kids back then.
 
LSchefman said:
I had a great childhood, but would anyone mind if I just skip ahead to college? Because, bands/hippie/substances/sexual revolution.

OK, that was a good memory moment. Thank you for your cooperation. :p
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Yes, definitely :) 1970 - 74 in Denver Colorado. (University of Denver). I’m from Boston…I was in a pretty incredible local all original band In Denver with some amazing musicians..
Got to share the stage with Tommy Bolin, The Free, West Bruce & Laing, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Zephyr, James Gang many more. Dillon, Boulder, Brekenridge gigs…..I had a long conversation with Peter Green (who was hanging out in our dorm). Very weird……..asking him why he ever left Fleetwood Mac, (LSD)…. Went up to NBN guitars near Gurcio’s studio complex in Netherlands . Joe Walsh, Steve Stills and James Taylor were hanging out…..Saw the original Allman Bros Band with Duane and Berry. Changed my musical life…..
Saw Pink Floyd with 100 folks in the audience and they played Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety before the album came out……a priceless time in my life……
 
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I am the only child in the family, and my parents couldn't give birth to a child for 18 years. So, when I came here, they were happier than ever. My mother began investing in me much time and patience to teach me by herself to read and write from an early age. She read me hard, deep books from childhood, and I adore those years. "The Catcher in the Rye" is my favorite book, and now I read only from this category. https://freebooksummary.com/category/catcher-in-the-rye-symbols is the service that gives me a free book summary of my favorite novel. Additionally, it explains the symbols and their meaning, so the kids represent childhood, and the field is about innocence. The symbol that impresses me the most is that the fall from the cliff represents the fall of innocence. I had a happy childhood thanks to my mother, who opened my passion for literature.
 
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11top said:
I’m relatively happy now. :) Qualifies because my wife thinks I’m childish.
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Mrs. B and I have been together so long because I’m 12 years old inside…and 25 at the same time. Not only does the 12 year old think this stuff up, but the 25 year old knows how to do it! :oops:

I’ve found that some people had a good childhood and a lot of people didn’t. Being fortunate to lean toward the former, keeping that stuff to myself is my version of being polite until I know the audience. But, regardless, comparatively so, this guy has had hell of a good run. :cool:
 
LSchefman said:
The longer you're on the planet, the shorter any given time interval feels relative to the time span of your consciousness.

At this point, I marvel at how much of this time stuff I've wasted. Could be one reason why I have a sense of urgency about getting all of my creative ideas recorded as fast as I can. I won't run out of ideas, but I will run out of time.

I'm not sayin' there's any mileage in getting all this stuff recorded. There isn't. I just do it for my own amusement.
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Time is the ultimate enemy. Focusing on the things that generate the most happiness - for everyone - becomes job 1.

The downside to recording my/our ideas leaves the audience pondering, “wtf was he thinking??!!”. To me, that’s mission accomplished. Honestly, who drops 5th notes in the end of an otherwise rhythmically normal solo? Yep, this guy…for my own entertainment.
 
My first childhood was OK, but I was a skinny little kid. had to grow up a little after college, but then my second childhood started when I became a NYC Fireman. Got to ride around on a big red truck and play with horns a sirens. Best 20+ years. Now at 68 I'm a retired child who had prostate cancer (hopefully it stays away) and I don't take life seriously anymore.
 
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