As I pondered for the last few days over childhood memories, I was able to relive some great times that I’ve spent with my family over the years. I thought about my first cruise when I was about 9 or 10 when I felt freedom for the first time. Mom gave me a key to our room and turned me loose to conquer the ship. I signed myself up for the children’s area and I ended up winning the ship treasure hunt and participating in tons of fun stuff. I also remembered our families trips to Myrtle Beach, SC. It seemed like we went almost every year for a while and it’s funny because I think we always spent more time in the swimming pools than on the beach! There was also the Florida trips including the first trip to Disney World and I remember seeing all of the animals in Animal Kingdom, but my favorite thing to do was to ride the rides at Epcot Center and Universal Studies. Oh and that reminded me of the day trips to Atlanta to Sixflags and Whitewater where we would have coolers filled with food and drinks in the trunk so that we could stay all day without paying for the high prices park food and drinks.

Despite all of the family trips and fun with my cousins, I think the most interesting childhood memory happened one Christmas morning in my mom’s backyard. For Christmas I usually got what I wanted because I could list the top 3 things that I really wanted and depending cost I could get all three. Well, this particular Christmas, I don’t even know if I asked for it, but I woke up to the surprise of a trampoline in our backyard! I remember being so freakin’ excited about the trampoline. For some reason, my big brother and daddy thought that I needed to watch them play on my new trampoline so I could learn what to do with it…I watched as they jumped higher and higher and I could see how low the mat would go to the ground with the these two grown people on there. They were jumping and jumping until suddenly (but it seemed like it happened in slow motion)…I saw my dad keep backing up until he reached the end near the springs and the next thing we knew his legs found themselves through the springs leading to trauma to that male protected area. It looked extremely painful but it was totally hilarious after we found out that he was ok. I’m sure he’s gonna kill me for writing this, but that’s probably my fondest childhood memory.
Sincerely,

Stassi Nicole