Tuesday 4~ Childhood

 Childhood

Welcome to Toni's Tuesday 4 and another chance to learn more about yourself and your fellow bloggers.


This week is all about you …

1. Were you an adventurous child at all?  

Yes, I'd say I was quite adventurous.

I've shown this picture before, but when I think of me as a child, my mind always goes back to this picture.  Our home was out in the country/woods, and we didn't really have any close neighbors for me to play with, and I was the "baby" of the family, so my older siblings were often too busy to spend much time with me, so I had to entertain myself a lot. But I didn't mind. I loved being outdoors and exploring the woods. My sister Doris, although a few years older, did like to build forts with me in the woods, and so we did do that until she became a teenager and had better things to do. The thing is, the woods in Florida back then were still quite dense and wild, and diamond back rattlesnakes and coral snakes were very prolific at that time.  However, God was certainly watching over us as we played in the woods many times and were often barefooted, and we never saw a snake in the woods, but we did see them quite often out in the open in the yard or on the dirt road.  Thankfully either my father or my big brothers were usually around at those times to "take care of them".  It was wise to keep a hoe handy for such times.

Sometimes I did have some girlfriends come and camp out with me in a pup tent in our yard.  I loved camping out, and often did so with the Girl Scouts as well as with my family. Every summer our family would camp on our way up north to visit our relatives in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Those are some of my best childhood memories.

My friends Sue, Carol, and yours truly, probably in 8th grade...Not sure how we all three fit in that pup tent all night, along with all our "stuff"!  

2. What were some of your favorite places to go when you were a child? Amusement parks, movies, restaurants,. zoo, etc.?

There were no amusement parks near us when I was growing up in Florida in the pre-Disney World days. But we did have some wonderful natural Old Florida scenic attractions that were much better than the artificial places in Florida now. I know at some point we did go to Cypress Gardens and watch the water-skiers and see all the beautiful young ladies in their  gorgeous gowns. I also remember going to Silver Springs and seeing Ross Allen with the rattlesnake show and the glass bottom boats.  We also used to go to places like Rock Springs, Alexander Springs and Juniper Springs to swim.   I do remember going to the Saturday matinee' movies with my cousins when I'd stay with them for a week at their home near Neptune beach, where we would also go swimming in the ocean and search for shark's teeth and seashells on the beach.  Also my family would pack a picnic lunch and go to Daytona Beach for the day, which was about an hour away from our home. We'd come home sunburnt and tired and cranky, but we always had a great time. Restaurants? That was a very rare occurrence when I was growing up. With a family of six, eating out was a luxury that we could not afford, and besides, we didn't have fast food places like they do now.  I do remember while traveling on vacation that we would sometimes stop at an A&W Root Beer place

Internet Photo

and they would bring the food to us on a little tray that attached to the window of the car. We'd get ice cold A&W Root Beer in a frosty mug, and that was always SO good!!

Internet photo

3. What games did you play outdoors? indoors?

My cousin Becky and I would set up the Monopoly game and play it for days at a time in the summer when I'd spend the night at her house.  Seems like we played card games like "Old Maid". Oh, we played Clue and Scrabble too, and checkers. We also played with our Barbie dolls and built houses for them and made clothes for them. Outdoor games with friends were games like Red Light/Green Light, Mother May I?, Red Rover, Hide and Go Seek.  I sometimes went to my friend Rhonda's house, and she had a tree house and we spent a LOT of time up there. We also started our own sea-shells, rocks and fossils collection/museum in her parents' shed. I think we even charged admission to come see it. LOL.   

4. Where did you grow up and do you think it affected who you are today?

I grew up in a very small town in central Florida named Tavares. * If you want to read the link below that I wrote a few years ago about my home town, it will give more details and answer some of these questions.

*That link above about "Tavares" is how it is today. If you read the history of Tavares, it may be a little more like it was when I was growing up. The town today is NOTHING like it was when I was growing up. It's still a nice town, but its whole focus has changed over the years. I still prefer it the way it was...

HERE is a link to a previous post I wrote about where I grew up.  

Here is another one!!!

I am very thankful for growing up in my hometown. Because our school was small, our teachers knew us and literally cared about us.  I feel like I had more opportunities to do things there than I ever would have had in a bigger school or city, where I would have been a very small fish in a big pond.  I was able to participate in many school activities like cheerleading, drama, the school chorus, Future Homemakers of America, and other extra-curricular activities.  Also my home church was very instrumental in helping to form me into a strong believer.  I was very active in my Sunday School and Youth Group, and sang in the church Junior Choir.  I went to church camp and even became a youth counselor at the camp. Much of this experience helped to prepare me to become a Pastor's Wife, youth leader and Sunday School teacher and choir member as an adult. I am very thankful for the town, school and church where I grew up.  I definitely believe that it helped prepare me for the life God had planned for me.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 NKJV

11 "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, 

I put away childish things. 

12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

Isaiah 26:12 NIV

"Lord, you establish peace for us;

all that we have accomplished you have done for us."

Jeremiah 29:11  NKJV

"11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

I hope you enjoyed reading this post about my childhood. Now let us go visit over at the Tuesday 4 site and see what others are sharing!