Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie said the she thought it would be fun to remember our adolescence and just think about a few of our favorite things.

Here are Maggie’s questions.

1) Who was your favorite relative? Not to play favorites, but who was the person you connected with more than others? Aunt, uncle, cousin, grandparent, or parent? Why were you closest to them?

That would have been my cousin Mike, the son of my mother’s brother. He was six months younger than me and we spent almost every weekend together. He would either stay over at my place or I would stay over at his. Not only was he my cousin, he was my best friend.

2) What was your favorite TV show? Share a clip if you can find one.

When I was young, my father and I bonded over westerns like Gunsmoke, Have Gun-Will Travel, Wagon Train, Bonanza, and Maverick. I also loved Rocky and Friends, but my father didn’t.

3) What was your favorite book or favorite family story?

I used to be into The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries.

4) What was your favorite, song, record, or album. Feel free to share a YouTube video of it.

When I was really young, my favorite song was Jimmy Boyd’s “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” When I was an adolescent, I was really into Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

5) Who was your favorite teacher? What grade were you in and what subject did they teach?

That was probably Miss North, my 10th grade biology teacher. She was hot!

6) What was your favorite subject (not teacher) in school?

I would say that my favorite courses were history courses.

7) Who was your favorite (aka best) friend? What things did you do together?

Aside from my cousin Mike, my two best friends were Mickey and Pat, two neighborhood kids. What did we do together? Everything. We were like the Three Musketeers: one for all and all for one.

8) What was your favorite way to pass the time?

When I wasn’t hanging out with Mickey and Pat or my cousin Mike, I used to play a game I invented that I called Baseball with Cards. I selected cards from two different decks and combined them to replicate statistical facsimiles of baseball games. Aces were home runs; Kings, triples; Queens, doubles; Jacks, singles (one-eyed jacks would advance base-runners two bases, two-eyed jacks, one base); deuces were walks; tens, strikeouts; nines, sacrifice flies; and the rest of the cards were outs. I’d sit and play baseball with cards for hours on end.

9) What was your favorite holiday? How did you celebrate?

It was probably the Fourth of July/Independence Day. We’d always have a big family gathering in the backyard with tons of food (grilled burgers and hot dogs) and all the extras, great desserts, and then we’d head to the go see the fireworks display in town.

10) What was your favorite toy or possession? Doll, camera, radio, bicycle?

I was a real bicycle enthusiast and my pride and joy was when I got my three-speed Raleigh English Racer, similar to the one pictured below.

Bonus: What was your favorite adventure? Family trip, amusement park, field trip, or vacation perhaps.

We lived in a suburb of Washington, DC, so heading into the city and visiting the sights, like the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial, was always fun. I especially liked going to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and to the U.S. Army Medical Museum. That was a freaky place.