A Few Firsts...

Tina here since it's Sit Down Saturday, I thought it might be fun to sit down and get to know one another.

Everyone has a few firsts. Some they recall with a smile, others with a wince. Just for fun I thought we could share a few firsts.

If you're inclined, after you read mine, you're welcome to share some of your own.

One of my earliest childhood memories. We lived in Alaska, I was all dressed up (swaddled) in a pink snow suit that was so padded to keep me warm, I could hardly move. I could barely put my arms down and my legs were held apart by all the cushioning.  So I waddled. My thighs rubbed together when I walked giving off a swish swish sound.

Some of you might recall my telling about this memory once before. Any way there I was, walking, toddling, looking rather like a big pink marshmallow, out to play in the frigid air of Alaska.

My two older sisters were already out and about and seemed to be maneuvering just fine in their snow suits. They played on the slides and swings of the playground near our apartment. I tried to keep up with them, but about as soon as I got my padded body to them they were on to the next ride.

Finally, they called me to the slide and told me how wonderful it was to lick the slide. It was cool and I would really like it. One of them even acted out how I should do. Looking back I realize she never really touched the slide.  But I stuck out my tongue, leaned in, and licked the slide.

It was cold, just like my sisters said.

And guess what happened next?

I tried to pull my tongue back in,  but couldn't dislodge it from the slide.

While my sisters laughed, I fought tears and worked to get up enough spit to free myself.

Which, I finally did.

I don't really know if they thought it was funny, or if they were trying to get me back because mom said to watch me, but I do know I can't watch the Christmas Story without a touch of wince when the kid sticks his tongue on the flagpole.

My other earliest recollections happened in Alaska about the same time. I remember bears at the dump and someone killed a bear and had it laying over the back of his flatbed truck. Then the earthquake. Big Earthquake and my sister rounding us all up to get under the table.

My first kiss beyond mother and father and of an on the lips situation. I was a girl, somewhere around six or sevenish I believe. It was not the kind that made you drop your shoe, unless you counted running out of them trying to get away. We went to visit my grandmother and my uncles and aunts were waiting and one of my uncles thought it was funny to chase myself and sisters and cousins all down and give us smackers and scrub his mustache on our face. BLECK!

My first real kiss of a desired on the lips situation came around the time I was 16 1/2 and came from my boyfriend Danny who is now my husband. (33+ years) Actually, I gave the kiss to him. After six weeks of dating he wondered if I'd ever kiss him on the lips, so when he was giving me a kiss on the cheek after dropping me home, I swung my lips around and caught him on the lips. And there you have it my earth shaking kiss. Romance to warm your heart.

My first two piece bathing suit.  I was six or seven again, and my mother bought me a pink (which is not my favorite color) two piece with a white lace overlay. Now before you go thinking I wore some skimpy string bikini, (that came later and I nearly lost my top in the ocean.) this was done in the I Dream of Jeannie without the sheer leggings style. High bottoms that covered your navel and a sports type bra.  

Anyway back to the story. I had this spiffy new two piece (not my usual underwear suit) and my parents even bought one of them little pools that fit about three kids side by side if you didn't want to move. Up until that point we ran through the sprinklers (far more fun than a cramped pool) and had water fights.

I played and played in that pool then finally crawled out and laid in the sun to dry and promptly fell to sleep. By the time I awoke, my backside was the color of my spiffy new two piece.

My First Pet. I've always loved dogs. My first pet was Floppy. She was the runt of the pack and she had short little legs and long ears which she seemed to step on when she ran.

My First (and only) Boyfriend of the Boyfriend instead of Boy Friend type variety. That would Danny the man who bestowed on me my first kiss and married me 33+ years ago. Up until that point,  most guys were truly just my friends. They didn't see the beautiful Cinderella waiting under the tomboy. We played catch, pitched football and stuff, but no woo. When it came time to discuss girls, they would ask me about my girlfriends. I guess Danny saw the girl behind my tomboy exterior.

My First Car. A 1956 Two Tone Green New Yorker with push button shifting, power steering and windows, I lovingly called the 'Tank'. I gave it the nickname for two reasons. First, it was rather heavy and big and kind of like a tank. Second, it drank gas like a thirsty man in the desert and I could never keep the gas tank full. I don't know how many times I sat in traffic in Denver and watched the needle clock down toward E, praying I would get home before I ran out.

I received some of the funniest looks whenever I got in the Tank. Not the hey-checkout-that-babe-in- the-hot-car kind either. It was more look-at-the-nerd-in-the-junkermobile type, with a few laughs thrown in.

People would pull up beside me, snicker and race their engines to let me know they could whoop me in a race. I wasn't much of a racer, but every so often, for dignities sake, I would give them a run for their money. They pretty much had me at the start. (Tanks take a while to get up to speed.) But when my Tank got to going, I could usually pass them up. And I flew by their face would twist with confusion and I'd be the one smiling.

My First Crush. (yes, Tomboys do have them) So many years ago. So dumb now. But it was… wait for it…

Mark Lester. (the boy, not the man now)

I can see your faces right now. Confusion personified. Who in the world is he? He played in Black Beauty and Oliver. Hey I was a kid. What do I know? I think about it now and am a bit flummoxed myself. And that's pretty much all I have to say about it. I also liked Hoss - Dan Blocker on Bonanza, not cause of a crush, I just thought he was funny and kind.


My First Foray into Frosting Making.  This happened while we lived in Germany. I believe it was for my fourth grade class and it happened right around the time I made my first pudding. Plum. Using ground green plums and cream of tartar and a few other ingredients, my friend and I made pudding that you could bounce a quarter off of, and ended up making ourselves sick. So you can probably gather that I have my cooking skills down.

Anyway, I could make cakes and cookies pretty good, and a few other things as well, but I wanted to make a cake for class and do my own frosting. So I mixed up a bit of ingredients and boiled it for a time, then poured it over my cake. It tasted awesome. I knew everyone would love it. But come the next day at school, and no one could get a taste of the frosting or the cake because you couldn't cut through the nearly 1/2 inch thick hard candy shell my frosting became after setting up. We literally had to take a hammer to it.

My First Time Sewing.  I had been taking classes with a seamstress so I was learning the stitches and how to cut out patterns. She had me make a skirt which I did fairly well. It took a bit to get the zipper in and to put the decorative buttons together. When I sat down to sew the buttons on and finish up the hem, I was pretty proud of myself. Until I lifted the skirt off my leg and found I'd sewed the skirt to my pants.

My First Book. I started the story in elementary school and went back to it when I was in my early twenties and had three children, plus babysitting three other children. All five and under. Needless to say, I couldn't concentrate, so after writing for a time and doing a touch of research, I decided to sit the story aside. A few years later, when my boys were in school full days and I had time, I pulled it out again and started to write and write and write. Unfortunately when I got to around 500 pages my computer when on the blink and ate my story. Thankfully, I had saved a paper copy of my work and had about half of the story backed up on floppy disk. So I sat down and started again. And some 900 pages later my story was finished. When Shadows Fall was my masterpiece about the Civil War and the Oregon Trail. I was pleased. But no one wanted an epic story from the likes of me. Unknown writer that I was. So I split the story. When Shadows Fall, Shadowed Dreams, To Catch a Shadow and This Shadowed Land are all available in eBook form.

Leave a comment and share about your first car or a first, and you will be entered to win the full set. Plus your name will be added to the weekly drawing here at Stitches Thru Time

Well, that concludes the stories behind a few of my firsts. There are more, but I promised not to bore you to insanity.

Thank you so much for spending time with me.