memories

E.M.’s Sunday Ramble Prompt — Childhood Memories

Fandango6 Comments

It’s time once again for E.M. Kingston’s The Sunday Ramble. Her prompt is based upon a certain topic about which she asks five questions. We are invited to ramble on about that topic however we wish. Today’s topic is “Childhood Memories.”

I’m an old guy and my childhood memories are ancient history, but I will try as best I can to answer E.M.’s questions from my distant past.

1. What is your first good memory from your childhood?

I have this vague memory of hearing a recording my parents made of me singing “Rudolph the Red-Noses Reindeer” when I was about four years old. I remember thinking that the voice on the record didn’t sound like my voice. I also remember everyone laughing at me when they listened to the recording because, when I sang the last line, You’ll go down in history, I didn’t know what the word “history” was, so when I sang it, it came out, You’ll go down in his story.

2. Name 3 things that you loved when you were just a youngster?

  1. The Good Humor ice cream truck every afternoon in the summer.
  2. Snow days when school was canceled in the winter.
  3. Comic books year round.

3. What did you dislike, or even hate, when you were growing up?

I can’t think of too many things I truly disliked or hated. I didn’t like spinach. I didn’t like most medicines, and I didn’t like Frank Morris because he was a bully.

4. If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would you tell them?

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

5. What kind of celebrations did you enjoy when you were little, and do you still like those celebrations now that you are grown?

Birthday parties. Today? Meh.

Bonus Question: What commercial did you always wait for to come on television as a child?

I used to love car commercials, especially at the annual model year changes. And, of course, toy commercials.

Frozen in Time

Fandango8 Comments

Her eyes were drawn to the beads of perspiration forming on his forehead. She thought it strange how she used to find his wily ways almost irresistible, and how the dulcet tones of his voice to her were like the sweet, romantic sounds of wind chimes being stirred by gentle breezes.

She wished she could freeze those feeling, those memories, in time through some sort of cryogenic method to potentially be revived at some point in the future. But all she could focus on now was the stench of garlic on his breath and the foul odor of his sweaty body on top of hers.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (drawn), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (perspiration), Your Daily Word Prompt (wily), Word of the Day Challenge (irresistible), My Vivid Blog (chimes), Ragtag Daily Prompt (cryogenic), and The Daily Spur (garlic). Photo credit: istockphoto.com.

Friday Fictioneers — Good Times

Fandango10 Comments

“I thought you sold that thing years ago,” Eddie said. “Why did you keep it?”

“Memories, man,” Kyle responded. “The two of us used to cruise around looking for chicks who wanted to party with us. Remember?”

“Of course I remember, Kyle,” Eddie said. “How about that awesome night with Jenny and Joanie in the back of the van? That was wild, wasn’t it?”

“Oh yeah, the sister act,” Kyle laughed. “That was the first time I did sisters.”

“And the last time too, I bet.”

“True,” admitted Kyle, “But we had good times in that old van, didn’t we?”

(100 words)

Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Friday Fictioneers prompt. Photo credit: Russell Gayer.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #17 Revisited

Fandango22 Comments

FPQDuring the month of April, in addition to my regular topical posts as well as my prompt posts, I will be participating in the 2021 A to Z Challenge. I will post my A to Z post daily at 6 a.m. my time (Pacific). During this month, I will be revisiting four of my Provocative Question posts, which will be published on the four Wednesdays in April at 3:00 a.m. my time. If you didn’t respond to the original provocative question post, or would like to post a new response, please feel free to do so. Or you can read the responses of other bloggers who did post responses to the original. Anyway, here goes:

Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration. By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

Earlier this week I wrote a post I called The Life and Death Paradox. It covered three rather provocative topics: abortion, sex education, and the death penalty. Not surprisingly, that post generated some very provocative comments. So that’s gonna be a tough act to follow.

This week’s provocative question came to mind when my son asked me a question. He wanted to know where we lived when I sold my motorcycle, and I couldn’t remember whether it was in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. I tried and tried, but came up empty. I couldn’t even recall the last time I rode it.

So, I decided to ask a question about human memory, which has been shown to be incredibly unreliable. With that in mind, here is this week’s provocative question:

“How do you know which of your memories are genuine and which have been altered over time or even made up?”

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And most important, have fun.