Memories

A long while back, my dad put a bunch of my childhood pictures on 3 separate CDs for me so I would have them for all time, or until the CDs broke. He scanned photographs, negatives and slides for me. I’m eternally grateful for that effort he made.

I’ve had a blog post swirling around in my head a little about my childhood and bringing to the masses. Partly for me and partly because I have quite a few friends who know intellectually that I grew up overseas in “the desert” but they have no concept of what that was like and pictures help make it a little more concrete. By that same token, I must say that I have no concept of what constitutes a “normal” childhood growing up in the US and A.

So, about my “desert” upbringing. Most people think of sweeping dunes of sand, an occasional cactus or palm tree and maybe a lone coyote when you say desert. There were deserts like that in my childhood – minus the coyote, but a lot of it was also very rocky and mountainous, as in mountains of rock, not sand. Like this:

Also, that is in fact some type of structure remnant that someone built hundreds of years ago, maybe. Or maybe just 50 years ago, but the sand storms and what not make it look older. I don’t know, but I’m thinking it is maybe a little older than 50 years. Anyway, this picture was taken from the side of the road circa early 80s. It probably looks a lot like that now, except with more litter, I imagine. Also, that was not my house. And no, I did not live in a tent or ride a camel to school, even though I would tell people that when I would visit the States because it was fun to mess with people. You should see how people freak out when you ask if electricity is a kind of food. Heh…

Anyway, I’m in the process of uploading all my childhood pictures and then I will probably do a series of posts about my childhood. You will probably be tired of seeing pictures looooooong before I will, but this is my blog and I will self-indulge. I will also publicly embarrass my sister with pictures of her, too. I’ve noticed that my mom had a penchant for dressing her as either a gay cowboy or a transvestite sailor. There are also pictures that prove that at one time, she could tan.

To be fair, I’m sure I’ve got pictures from the Big Perm Debacle in which I look like the Little Orphan Asian Annie was crossbred with a poodle, my fashion “sense” of the 80s (both the words “fashion” and “sense” are used very loosely), and the one time I thought it would be a good idea to wear my pink lacey play dress to school for school pictures that one year in elementary school. I don’t recall right now what year it was, but I know I was old enough to know better, but wore it anyway.

And more, oh so much more.

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