The feather bangs of an 8 year old

One of my favorite memories of being 8 was I got to be a flower girl in my cousin Dawn’s wedding. I still to this day love spending time with both sides of my family as I have been blessed with an amazing family and if there is one thing that we know how to do, it is have a great time! I still remember Dawn coming and asking me to be one of her flower girls, I remember going dress shopping with her and loving trying on all the beautiful dresses, and then came the wedding day. I was not allowed to sit down after I put on my dress so it wouldn’t wrinkle, but I LOVED the romance, the beautiful church, the excitement, spending time with my relatives (even though Dawn was Dad’s niece, she invited my Mom’s sister Janet who was visiting to attend the wedding with us) and then THE RECEPTION. I had never danced at a party before so when Ken Ortman asked me to dance with him and I told him I didn’t know how, he replied, “Oh it’s easy, just act like you have to go to the bathroom.” Well that was it, I danced my heart out the rest of the evening! I loved my dress so much that I wore it every Sunday to church for the rest of the year.

I was possibly the world’s pickiest eater when I was a kid. I didn’t really enjoy food. A lot of the textures made me gag and I didn’t enjoy a lot of tastes. Up until I moved out of the house, I would have anxiety eating at other people’s houses especially when boyfriend’s parents were involved because I would be afraid that I would have to force myself to eat something I didn’t like and would gag in front of them. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s and still gagged at meals that my parents finally started believing that I wasn’t doing it on purpose. I was also stuburn though and refused to eat things that I didn’t like. I had to stay sitting at the table til my food was eaten so many a night I spent alone at the table long after the family was done and onto other things. I kinda wish I still had the problem of not liking food. : )

One thing that I hated doing at this age was every Sunday after church, we went to visit a lady named Dee at the local nursing home. Not only did we visit, but we had to sing to her every week. If you have heard my family sing, I can’t believe that this would be the highlight of anyone’s week, but they LOVED us at the nursing home and sometimes we would draw quite a large crowd of the residence.

During my 8th year, a girl named Leslie Rosebourgh moved to town. She was beautiful and quickly became the most popular girl in school. And for some reason she chose me to be her favorite friend. She was an only child in a wealthy family and I was so astonished by the life she led. I remember driving in her dad’s sports car to bring her mom’s fur coat to be preserved through the summer, every season her mom got rid of all her clothes and bought her all new ones and her mom cooked her vegetables in sugar so Leslie would eat them- with her fingers. Some people have all the luck. : )