Where I'm From

I am from scrabble and kings on the corners, from euchre until the wee hours of the morning and I am from wanting to be the winner, extreme competition, but enjoying the time it meant with our family even more.

I am from casseroles and barbeques, from beans on toast, spaghetti on toast and from vegemite and toast, especially when my dad was cooking. I am from fresh baked bread and cherry pie at one grandparents’ house and welsh cakes, Sunday dinners and milk delivered to the door in glass bottles at my other grandparents’ house.

I am from long car rides, games to pass the time, camping in tents, campfires and hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. I am from splashing in puddles, rain falling on an umbrella. throwing snowballs and rolling down hills. I am from riding bikes and kicking soccer balls. I am from walks in the woods and swinging on old rusty swings.

I am from mad minute math and speech competitions, the health hustle and writing with a pencil until you earned a pen for being so neat. I am from passing notes and giggling at the back of the class. I am from musicals and plays and school trips that I remember and math lessons and geography lessons that I don’t.

I am from Sweet Valley High, Flowers in the Attic and Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. I am from listening to my mom read me Tom Sawyer and Anne of Green Gables. I am from Flintstones, Three’s Company and Beverly Hills 90210 on television and Tetris and SuperMario Brothers on the computer.

I am from swimming lessons and piano lessons, gymnastics and synchro and soccer. I am from band practice, basketball and volleyball teams, from singing groups and youth groups. I am from complaining about practicing piano while my dad sat in the rocking chair and my mom watched the timer on the stove. I am from The Entertainer and Good King Wenceslas, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. I am from and playing duets with my brother and performances on demand. I am from my mom spending half of her life driving my brothers and me to our activities and spending the other half of her life in the coffee shop.

I am from lilies in the garden, digging up mounds of potatoes with my dad and eating cherry tomatoes off of the vine. I am from lettuce dip-in on a hot summer day. I am from playing hide and seek in the cornfields and chickens in the barn. I am from swept floors in the kitchen and clothes on the floor in the bedroom. I am from “your face will freeze like that” and “stop fighting with your brothers” and I am from “You are in everything but a jam sandwich” and “I love you”.

I am from ponytails and pigtails, braids and ribbons. I am from homemade pretty dresses, frilly socks and shiny shoes but I am also from grubby shorts and t-shirts with dirty bare feet. I am from being able to be whatever and whoever I wanted to be. I am from rough and tumble play, running and jumping and I am from sewing and cross-stitch, arts and crafts and baking. I am from teasing and tickling, hugs and kisses. I am from all kinds of places that I am so glad to be from…and more.

I read about "Where I'm From" in blogs by Loukia and ModernMom.

Such a lovely trip down memory lane! Thanks for the inspiration.