Bag from Childhood

I’m not sure when exactly I had this bag, but I’m guessing it was from preschool. I like the fact that you can tell I wanted to write my own initials next to the felt ones. Also, not sure why there is a strawberry on it – never been much of a fan. Anyway, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite stories from that time…

My nephews’ favorite story is the one that involved my first encounter with a man in blue. I had just learned how to ride a bike, and was proudly circling and swerving all over Bowman Street. I was so happy, I wasn’t even paying attention to see if there were any cars coming my way. Then, a police officer driving by noticed my disregard for potential traffic and gave me a stern talking to. I was so upset, that I went inside crying. My wonderful mom was there to comfort me, and she asked me what was wrong. Not wanting to tell her that I had upset a cop, I quickly came up with a fake bee sting story. But as she looked me over for where I was stung, the man in blue appeared at our kitchen door. He apologized and said he didn’t mean to scare me, but just wanted to make sure I was being safe. And I was caught in my lie. Luckily my mom wasn’t too upset about the lie and was just glad I was okay.

Another time my mother was getting ready to take my older sister to school. It was her birthday, and she had made cupcakes for Carolyn and all of her classmates. We were only minutes from leaving, but I decided to personally sample each cupcake by taking frosting off of each one with my finger (I guess that was better than just downing a whole one? Maybe I figured there wouldn’t be enough that way?). My mom came in to catch me in the act and my only response was, “Good cake, Mom!”

Then, of course, there was the time I dared my younger brother to pee on me. My plan was simple: I’d ask him and right when he was about to do it, I’d jump out of the way. It was a huge setup to get him in trouble (for no reason other than my amusement, I think). Amazingly, it went just as I planned. I dared him, he aimed, and I moved. A nanosecond after his stream hit the bureau, I was yelling “Daddy, Tommy peed on his bureau!” I was amused, but our dad was not.