Memories of June--Roses, Graduations, Weddings and More

We're well into the month of June. An entire week has gone by already. Today, I'm going to help you trigger a few memories about the month of June in your growing-up years, maybe your early adult life and beyond. Why? Of course you know why. It's to motivate you to add to your Family Memory Book. 

Only yesterday, a dear writer friend whose health is keeping her housebound now, wrote to me and sent me a few of the memory pieces she's writing so that her children and grandchildren will have a record of some of the decisions she's made and why she made them, some of the stories about her early life, her reactions to current events of the day and those behind. It's a veritable treasure chest she's leaving for her family. 

But back to June. What kind of things do you remember about June where you lived?

1.  What was the weather like?

2.  What flowers bloomed in June? Did you have roses in your yard?

3.  Were you still in school in June? What kind of end of the school year activities did you have?

4.  Did you play in any organized sports that began in June?

5.  What kinds of foods did your mom make to begin the summer?

6.  Were there June weddings in your family?

7.  Did you recognize and commemorate D-Day on the 6th of June?

8.  What activities did you and your siblings/friends like to do in June?

9.  Graduation often fell in June in years past--what graduation memories do you have?

As for me--school was never out until the end of the first week of June or even into the second week. I remember the teachers putting us all to work cleaning our classroom, going through cupboards and our desks, sorting things out for her and for ourselves. By the final day, our classroom looked neat and clean, ready for the next class to come in September. I think of June as good-bye time, as we said good-bye to our teachers and some of our classmates whom we would not see over the summer. My 8th grade graduation is so clear to me. I went to the same school from kindergarten through 8th grade with basically all the same kids. We had two classes of every grade, about 42 students combined. We girls made our graduation dresses in our 8th grade Home Economics class. Mine was pale pink with a Peter Pan collar, turned-up cap sleeves and a full circle skirt. It was 1953 when those full skirts and cinched in waists were in vogue. I remember hand hemming that full skirt, thinking I'd never reach the end. My mother agreed to let me buy a pair of white leather pumps to wear with the dress--my first high heels! What a thrill that was. My fifth and sixth grade teacher came to our graduation. Mr. Biddinger was our first male teacher in our school and dearly loved, and we were his first class. After the ceremony, he congratulated me and said, "Nancy, you walked better in your heels than any of the other girls." His comment meant so much to me then and it still does today. I have many more June memories which are going into my Memory Book. 

I posted a story about my wedding memories at Our Echo 3 years ago. You can read it here if you are curious. Then get started on your own memories.

How's The Weather?

What's the weather like at your house today? Here, in the central part of Kansas, it's really cold. Our high today is to be 27, after 47 yesterday and a prediction of 52 for tomorrow. Crazy roller coaster temps! We'd be thrilled if we had some snow like the little bird in the picture above is experiencing. Our area of the country is now classified as Extreme Drought. It's a worry for the farmers and everyone else.

Which brings me to today's topic. I wrote yesterday about sharing your memories with family by keeping a Memory Book. I usually suggest dividing the book into 12 sections--one for each month. Write about the things you remember in each month and keep adding more stories each year. Some may be only reflections, not full stories.

Then, create a few more sections, using those divider pages you pick up at your local discount or office supply store. Mark one for Weather. Others might be Food, Illnesses, School, Hobbies. Anything else you might think about. Some of the stories may overlap from a specific month to one of these other sections. You can put it wherever you like. It's YOUR book. Or copy the story and put it in two places. It's YOUR book.

Let's look at the Weather section. Grandpa is always telling grandchildren about how deep the snow was, how cold or how hot when he was a kid. Grains of truth with seeds of embellishment in some cases. Think back to what the summers or winters were like during your childhood. How do they compare to what we have now. Be honest! Were there certain storms that you remember well? Write about it. Did you have summers so hot that you could do almost nothing productive? Write about it. Did you live in a place where the weather was near perfect? Write about it. Were the trees in your cherry orchard picked clean by the birds one summer? Did your dad's pumpkin field yield a bountiful harvest one year because of perfect weather conditions? There are many angles from which you can approach weather memories.

Write about the activities you and your family did on cold, winter days. The same for those hot, muggy summer days. Maybe you grew up in a different part of the country than where your children and grandchildren live now. The weather patterns might be altogether different. Write about your weather for them. 

Memories Are For Sharing

Something good happens in your life and you savor the moment. Something humorous occurs and you mark it as never-to-be-forgotten. A tragedy or other sad event changes you in many ways. All of these happenings eventually become memories. Some are to be treasured, some laughed over and others are bittersweet, leaving you with a return of tears or heartache. It's alright. No one has all happiness and hilarity in their life. 

Dr. Seuss's quote is pretty accurate. When those memorable moments pass through our life, we aren't considering them as a memory to hang onto forever. But the things that stay with us months and years down the road of life become our memories. I'm a firm believer that memories are for sharing.

Share your memories with your children and grandchildren, your siblings, you parents and good friends. I once told my mother about a memory that had haunted me for over ten years of my childhood. It astonished her when the story surfaced, but it was a memory of mine that she needed to know. After a bit of anger and a few tears on both sides, that memory brought us closer together as mother and daughter. 

It wasn't enough that I shared my memory verbally. It needed to be written so that the younger members of my family would someday learn what had happened. Not that it would alter their lives in any way, but it might be a piece of the puzzle of a life of someone they are related to. Me! I admit that it took decades before I did write about a giant lie I told as a child--a great big lie that led to more lies and upset my parents for a very long time. The story is now written and in my Memory Book. 

I've written about the embarassing or funny moments like the time I cooked a big Thanksgiving dinner and miscalculated the timing on the turkey. Rare beef is good but doesn't work with turkey.  I still get teased about that one. I've written about the heartaches involved with the loss of two of our infant children. Stories that needed to be kept for our family and maybe to help others who have walked a similar path. 

When my family sifts through my Memory Book, they will learn things about my life before and after they were a part of it. They'll learn about my friends, my thoughts and feelings. They'll see a different way of life in my childhood than their own. They'll learn about family members on both sides and generations back.

Yes, memories are for sharing. Are you writing yours? Do you share them with the ones you love? If you haven't done it yet, there's no time like the present for taking that first step. 

Decorating The Tree Brings Memories

The other day, Ken put up our Christmas tree. His job was easy, pop the parts together and plug in the pre-lit tree. "There," he said, "now you can decorate it." Where was the 'we' in that statement? He did bring up the boxes of ornaments from downstairs for me and after he went out on some errands, I set to work. 

As I hung the glistening ornaments that I'd bought at places like Target and K-Mart, I let my mind wander to the rest of the items on my schedule for the day. But once those ornaments were up, I started on the special treasures we've collected over 48 years of marriage. 

As I did so, my mind wandered back to the times and places where we'd gotten these special ornaments. I have a set of six tiny wooden angels, each one sitting inside a round wooden hoop affair. They're quite small but detailed. I found them in a little shop near the Drake Hotel in Chicago when we were at a convention. Ken had a meeting at the famous old hotel every other year, and I always went with him. Going back to my hometown of Chicago was always a treat and getting away from caring for children and house ranked high, too. So, the tiny angels reminded me of all of that and more. 

Some of the ornaments were ones we'd bought when traveling in the USA and overseas, and each one brought back memories of the place where we'd purchased them. I am partial to angels and couldn't resist buying the little eskimo angel in Alaska. When I hung her on the tree, all the delightful parts of our Alaskan cruise rolled back to me. I bought some Ukkranian egg ornaments in Prague which the Czechs use at Easter, but I put them on the tree to remind us of our two trips to that beautiful city and in honor of the many Czech students we've hosted. 

Some of the ornaments are ones special people have given to us as gifts, and so each of them reminds me of a relationship with the giver. 

My mother saved one of my baby rattles that always went on our Christmas tree, and the angel at the top of the tree never changed. She watched over our tree in a pin satin dress, her golden wings in back and a cloud of blonde hair. Somewhere over the years, those things were lost. How I wish I had them now. Ken's mom gave our children some special little angels that always graced their tree, and our kids now use them on their own trees. More memories.

Memory upon memory flooded back as I finished decorating the tree. Writing about your own special ornaments for you memory book would be a great addition for the December section. I know it's a busy time of the year, but at least take a few minutes to jot down some notes and write about the ornaments later. If you can do it right away, the emotion will still be with you and make a better story. 

September Memories--Ready For Your Book

Ice cream trucks didn't stand a chance in Kansas this summer

Today was another of those hot summer days--pushing 100! Same for tomorrow. We've had more than our share here in Kansas this summer. My estimate is at about 28 days of 100+ degrees and a whole lot more that were in mid to upper 90's. It all boils down to one hot summer! Add the scarcity of rain and it's a lethal combination.

But it's now September, so I know those miserably hot days are winding down. Before too long, we'll have cool nights and mornings and pleasantly warm afternoons. We'll all feel more energetic, ready to get into fall projects.

And that brings up a pet project subject--your memory books. It's time to spiral back to your childhood days and dredge up those September memories. Then write a few paragraphs or a few pages to add to your memory book. Below are some questions to help trigger those long-buried events of yesterday.

1.  What was the September weather like where you lived?
2.  Did your school begin the day after Labor Day? Earlier? Later?
3.  What kinds of things did you and your mom shop for in September?
4.  What did your mom make for dinner and dessert in September that you hadn't had all summer?
5.  What else, besides school, began anew in September? Sunday School? Scouts? 4-H?
6.  What kind of clothes did you wear to school in the early Fall?
7.  What outdoor activities occurred where you lived during September?

If you've been adding to your memory book each month, it should be getting pretty full by now, and think of the great months left in the year, each of which brings a holiday of some kind---Columbus Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Veteran's Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's Eve.

If you haven't already started a memory book so that your children and grandchildren know what life was like back in the Dark Ages when you grew up, there's no time like the present to begin. Do a little every month and at the end of a year, you'll have an amazing collection.

Memory Book--August

It's a brand new month--the 8th one of 2012. Still summer so kids are swimming, running lemonade stands, and skateboarding. It's also time for you to add to your Family Memories Notebook.

Think back to August in your childhood or even your young adult years. What kind of activities did your family do in this last month before school started? Was August always a vacation time for your family? Did your mother start shopping for back-to-school supplies and/or clothes? Did she spend hours canning produce from the family garden? Did you go to baseball games? Or maybe listen to them on the radio? Did you make long trips to the beach? Or swimming hole or a pool?

Did you have a park nearby or play in your own backyard? Or were you like me, growing up in a large apartment building that offered a concrete courtyard in back for kids to play? We played a game called Chinese Stoop Tag on top of the many sewer covers in that large play space. We played 7-up with a rubber ball that we bounced on the brick wall. We played Tag and Hide-and-Seek. What games did you play with your siblings and friends during August?

What kinds of foods did your family eat in August? Maybe sweet corn dripping with butter or peaches picked from your own trees. Potato salad, hot dogs, burgers, baked beans--all picnic food. 

What was the weather like where you lived in August? Hot and sultry? Hot and dry? Cool and rainy? Miserable or delightful? How did you keep cool? Air-conditioning, floor fans, ceiling fans, in-window fans, attic fans? What sounds did you hear through an open window as you lay in bed trying to go to sleep? Crickets? Birds? Barking dogs? Trains? Cars bumping along a brick street? 

Maybe some of the above will trigger long-ago memories for you. Write about all these things and add it to your Memory Book. Is there a particular family story you want to add? Don't say I'll do it later. Do it now before life steps in and pushes the thoughts farther back into the recesses of your mind. 

Write Your December Memories

I turned the page on three calendars this morning. Suddenly, the last month of the year is upon us. Some of us will celebrate Christmas this month, others will  looks forward to Hanukkah or Kwanza. Whatever we commemorate this month, we all have memories of years past. This is the perfect day to take a few minutes and write a rough draft about your December memories. If you started your memory book last January, this month will give you a full year of memories. What a perfect gift for your children and grandchildren! 

Start thinking about what your life was like during the month of  December during your childhood. What chores did you do in the winter months? What kind of clothes did your mom insist on in December? What special foods did your family eat in December? What kind of parties did you host or attend? What did your classroom look like in December? 

Did your family attend special holiday performances at school, church, or a theater? Did all your friends celebrate the same way you did, or did they recognize a December holiday different than your own? What were the secret places your mom hid gifts? Did they stay secret? What kind of weather did your area have in December? What did you do on the holiday itself?

I hope these questions have triggered some memories for you. Now, it's time to start writing about those things that have come back to you. Only yesterday, a friend told me she rode a pony three miles to school when she was a child. What a wonderful experience to describe to her grandchildren in her memory book. She'd have pluses and minuses to traveling to school that way.

Tomorrow, I'll post my December memories. 

Memory Book--November

We're well into November. Have you written your childhood memories of this month? If you started doing it last January and continued each month, you should have a nice booklet in the works for your children and grandchildren to cherish for years to come. Or, the memories that you write about can be turned into publishable material for magazines like Good Old Days or Memoir Journal. (The links will take you to submission information).

If you haven't tried this, a good way to begin is to think back to your growing-up days. What was the weather like in November? What kinds of activities did you do in school that month? What kind of clothes did your mom insist on in November? What special foods did you eat? How did your family celebrate Thanksgiving? The more you think about it, the more memories will come. Include your early adult years, too.

Here's one I wrote a few years ago which includes childhood and beyond:

November In Chicago

By Nancy Julien Kopp

The crisp, sunny days of October somehow slid into damp, gray ones during November in the Chicago area where I grew up. For some reason unknown to most of its inhabitants, the sun played hide-and-seek in the late autumn and winter months, mostly hiding. Wind swept across Lake Michigan, bringing a chill that seeped through warm, woolen jackets and into the bones of both young and old. Leaves which had fallen and not been raked yet, swirled around our feet with each new gust of wind, and naked tree branches dipped and swayed like ballerinas announcing that winter would soon begin. We walked faster on our way to and from school, and Mother often commented that we had roses in our cheeks when we arrived home, nice way to describe chapped skin. We paid little mind to our rosy cheeks once inside our warm apartment.

Each of the five rooms in our apartment had a large radiator with an on-off knob on the side, and a narrow deep pan that hooked over the back which Mother filled with water to bring the humidity levels up. Our large building had steam heat, fired by a huge coal furnace in a garden level basement. I guess you’d call it a half-basement. There was a window in the furnace room where the coal man inserted a chute from his truck and soon sent the coal rumbling down the chute while a group of us kids gathered around to watch. The coal man stood guard outside, and the apartment janitor stood at the delivery end of the chute in the basement. The coal man’s face matched the product he delivered making the whites of his eyes stand out prominently. Once this scary looking man finished, the kids ran around to the basement door to witness the next step in bringing heat to all our apartments. John, the janitor, grabbed a big shovel and fed the furnace from that huge heap of coal. He let us watch for a few minutes, then snarled at us. “Get out of here now. No place for you kids.” And his fierce look sent us scattering. Once, there was a coal strike, and we had very little heat for several days. We wore our coats and hats and even gloves inside until we heard the blessed sound of pipes rattling and radiators hissing once again.

We celebrated Armistice Day every November 11^th, commemorating the armistice signed to end WWI at the 11^th hour on the 11^th day of November, 1918. Even after WWII, Armistice Day remained as November 11^th. Now, we call it Veterans Day and it’s celebrated the second Monday of November. There are still parades and speeches, breakfasts and lunches served in places like the American Legion Hall, but somehow it doesn’t have the same meaning as it did when I was a child, and the date remained constant.

The next big event in November was Thanksgiving. We celebrate now much as we did then. The menu remains the same as it was when my mother and my aunts prepared the dinner—turkey roasted to a golden brown and stuffed with a moist dressing redolent with sage. One of my aunts made an additional stuffing that she baked alongside the turkey. This one was a family recipe from the French side. Sausage added to it gave it a spicier taste. We had mashed potatoes and rich gravy made from the turkey drippings, sweet potato casserole with a marshmallow topping, homemade yeast rolls, cranberry sauce, a salad called Seafoam made with lime jello, cream cheese, mashed pears and whipped cream. Our vegetables were usually green beans. Pumpkin pie and apple pie finished off our feast. Real whipped cream topped the spicy pumpkin pie, and vanilla ice cream and perhaps a piece of cheddar cheese graced the plate with the apple pie on it.

My father had two older sisters who lived in the Chicago area with their families, so we usually celebrated Thanksgiving with one or both of them, trading homes from year to year. My five cousins, my three brothers and I had a wonderful time together, despite the wide range of ages. After dinner, we were shooed outside to play, even when it was very cold. I suspect the adults sat around and drank more coffee, nibbled on the leftovers and did all they could to put off the dishwashing time.

No dishwashers in those days, so all the women pitched in and cleared the table, washed and dried the dishes, often with towels made from flour sacks. When my female cousins and I got older, we were drafted into the kitchen to help. Chattering women and clattering dishes, that’s what was heard in the kitchen after dinner. We were probably better off, as we got some exercise after eating so much, while the men plunked themselves into chairs and listened to the radio, and in later years, watched the small screen TV we had.

Occasionally, it would snow on Thanksgiving Day but seldom enough to keep anyone from getting to wherever their dinner might be.

When I got married, I thought about asking my parents and my brothers to come to our house for Thanksgiving, but I hesitated to do so for fear of upsetting my mother who had cooked countless Thanksgiving turkeys. My aunts had passed away, so Mom was always the hostess. After a few years, I worked up the courage to suggest it, and Mom threw her hands skyward and said, “Finally! I’ve been waiting for someone to invite me for Thanksgiving for years.” After that, when we lived close enough, Thanksgiving for the extended family that lived nearby was at our house.

Now, my children both make the trip home for Thanksgiving every other year, bringing their families to share in the Thanksgiving traditional menu. We use a few shortcuts now, and we load the dishwasher instead of drying dishes with flour sack towels, but the grandchildren revel in being with cousins just as I did all those years ago. The faces around the table may be different, but the same warmth of a family gathering to give thanks and spend time together is there. May it ever be so.

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Write Your March Memories

We're already nine days into March. Have you written your March Memories for the Monthly Memory Book we've talked about here? Having trouble getting started?

Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea or go out for a walk on one of these more-moderate days we're having and delve back into your childhood. Think about the things your family did in March. Things that happened at school every March. Things you and your best friend did every March. Start writing those memories. One memory often triggers another and another and there you are---a whole lot to write about the month of March.

Your children and grandchildren will have a record of what that month was like as you grew up. Keeping these memories in a notebook in order of the months will end the year with a treasure trove for your family. Besides that, it's kind of fun to revisit those long-ago days, even if it is only through memories. It might move yo to write a letter to an old friend who shared those days with you.

Memory Triggers for March:
1.  What kind of bulletin board displays did your teachers use? March winds--St. Patrick's Day--Early Srping
2.  How did your family celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
3.  What special foods did your mother prepare in March?
4.  What was the weather like where you lived?
5.  What Easter memories do you have?
6.  Did your scout troop or 4-H club or some other group have something special in March?
7. Were you starting to count the days until summer vacation from school arrived?
8.  Was wind a factor in March where you lived?
9.  Did you have March snowstorms?
10.  Did you rejoice when seeing the first spring flowers?
11.  Were kites a part of March for you?