The Traffic Light

Today I wanted to post my Moment that I shared at http://www.smithmag.net/

If you have never visited this site

you should

Although be careful if you are hopping on while at work because it may cause you to be fired

as you will become so obsorbed in the stories and 6 Word Memoirs that when you finally look up

from your computer it will be dark outside and you didn't do a single work related task all day!

If you do stop by I submit as Jennyjoy my Six Word Memoir is
 "Another reputation ruined by air quotes"

I'm weird I know.

Submit your own they are addicting!

Anyway I digress...below is my Moment that I submitted and it was featured for about a month on the first page of their site.

I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful tuesday!

Traffic Light

As I rushed to an appointment, I raced my car though a very yellow light just on the cusp of turning red. I thought for sure I had made it. The lights of the police car behind me told me I was wrong. I nervously told my six-year-old daughter in the back seat that everything was okay. She didn't seem concerned. As the officer approached my window he asked, "Do you know why I stopped you?" Before I could even begin to make an excuse, I heard the squeeky sound of the back window opening. Turning, I saw my daughter thrust her hand out the window as if raising her hand in class. Then she said, "I know why you stopped her, sir. She went right through that red light." The officer could barely contain his laughter as he leaned against my car and peered into the back window at my darling big-mouthed daughter. She proceeded to tell him that he shouldn't worry, because she would tell her Dad as soon as we get home. The officer handed back my license and told me he wasn't going to give me a ticket as he hoped my daughter's wisidom was lesson enough. Laughing the whole way back to his car, he slide back out into traffic, leaving me alone with my judge and jury. "You should know better Mom," my daughter said, shaking her head with disappointment her little fingers pressing the button to roll the window back up. I knew three things instantly.
My daughter was growing up fast while I raced about not realizing it.
It is just as important for our children to be proud of us as it is for us to be proud of them.
And the next time I am in a rush, I need to leave her home.
My daughter is now nineteen and away at college. I am proud of her. I am still working on making her proud of me.

Childhood Friends

I was thinking about a question I read somewhere

I don't remember the exact wording but it was something like :

What book represents or reminds you of your childhood.

So here is a question I pose to you....

What Book (or movie) most represents your interaction with your childhood friends?

My answer is The Body (aka Stand By Me) for my book choice or Then and Now for my movie choice.

Why The Body?
To me the body was more then about the boys going out in search of the body of a dead neighborhood kid. It was about exceptance and adventure. It was about finding friends you could count on and being able to just be yourself.

Growing up I had two great friends Kathleen and Karen. They are sisters Kathleen my age and Karen one year younger then us. Their grandmother lived two houses away from the house I grew up in. Which is how we met Kathleen and I just toddlers thrown together by our mothers probably so they could have a minute to themselves. We ended up attending the same Catholic elementary school and our friendship grew within those walls during the winter months when we only saw each other during those school hours.

I picked this book because it is set in the summer and when we were growing up....

 the summers belonged to us!

Everything about us changed in the summer. We had no school worries. No thoughts of not fitting in. Our parents barely existed in our summer world. We were the queens of the neighborhood.

Summer Life was an adventure to be had and it seemed to stretch on forever.

Back then all we had was our imagination and we made up games, invented danger, drama and ways to scare ourselves. Behind the house Kathleen and Karen shared with their mother and five brothers and sisters was a tall stone wall. It rose at least ten feet high but back then it was like looking up at a sky scarper. Their house sat low on a hill so the top of that wall on the other side was only waist high. To access the other side of the wall you had to go down an alley between two houses.

We were not supposed to go there.

We were not supposed to sit on the wall.

We definitely were not supposed to slip over the wall and climb down into their backyard.

But we did

And we always got caught...a ratting sibling...a big mouthed neighbor....

Like The Body our adventures involved camping out.

We lived in the city so we slept in sleeping bags on small patches of backyard grass or laid across wooden front porches. Also like The Body my older brother made it his goal to torment us as much as possible without getting caught by my mother.

We were inseparable. We were the keepers of each others deepest secrets and darkest fears.

 I never felt left out by not being their sister.

Our story doesn't involve the discovery of a dead body

Although we did think we killed my little brother once

We blamed Karen

Every summer we found ourselves. We were brave, smart and funny. Slowly we started to carry that confidence into the school year. And when we forgot we had each other to help us remember.

The Body ends with with the friends going their separate ways and sadly all but Gordy die young.

Our story ends happier

We all have families now and although we don't see each other very often we can still count on each other

 They were both there for me when my Dad died 14 years ago.

And I hope they felt my love and support when their Mom died last May.

My children know their names and have heard the stories of our adventures.

We are legends if only in my own mind!

So how about you?