Pleasant Memories

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.- - Anonymous

My life hasn't been all one tragic event after another. Being new to "memoir writing" I can see how it may seem that way. I have many positive memories from my childhood.

One of my favorite is playing Scrabble with my mom on Sunday afternoons. Mom bought us a lot of games, my favorite was Scrabble. Another of my very pleasant memories is going to some of the major motion pictures. When we were small, we didn't go to that many movies, but when we did, it was a big event. I remember getting dressed up and going to see the Sound of Music. We also saw Mary Poppins. My mom would buy the sound tracks, and we would listen to them over and over again.

She was also there when I was scared. I remember early on, when I "became" a Barnett, I would have nightmare after nightmare. I can remember waking her up on occasion and she would help me get back to sleep. "God is watching over you," she would say. One time I was riding my bike on our back patio. It was a sting ray bike with the banana seat and I was going around and around as fast as I could in a tight circle. I cut it too close, and crashed, causing severe pain in my knee. She must have heard me scream and she came out and held me. It was one of those moments that reminded me of when my birth father held me.

As we got older, my dad started taking us hunting a couple of times a year. We also went fishing a few times. Mostly my brother and I worked at the "office," cleaning out cattle trailers. Actually, I was the one that worked while my brother goofed off. What I enjoyed most about those Saturdays was going into town and eating at Bobby's or Anne's Cafe. I would always get the chicken fried steak.

We also went to church. I loved going to church. As we got older, we became a part of the youth program. My parents let us go to almost everything connected with church. We also went to church camps including camp in Estes Park, Colorado.

When I was sixteen, my dad gave me the opportunity to work on the ranch of one of his friends in Montana. That was one of the highlights of my life. This ranch was 40 miles from one town and 60 miles from another. The house was 7 miles off of the main road. I really enjoyed the cowboy way and didn't want to go back home after the summer was over.

One event that was tough was moving my senior year of high school. If you have ever done that, you know how painful that can be. However, it made me appreciate going to college even more. Next: being grateful for college.