Thank Goodness

Growing up my dad always had a huge video camera in our faces. Any birthday or party he would pull out the video camera and get a nice shot of each person in the room. It never really bothered me, and I actually never thought much about it until I was older.

Sundays are usually really relaxing days at my house. By three, my whole family is usually asleep. Today, however, after a nice dinner, we put an old tape in the VHS player. The title on the tape was “Birth of Cade.” For about two hours we watched all of the fun things that happened in 2005, starting with my youngest brother’s birth.

 

This video brushed over some of my favorite memories, not just in 2005, but throughout all of my childhood. After Cade’s birthday the video skipped to a beautiful spring morning, in our luscious, green backyard. All of us kids were in pajamas on the backs of our two miniature horses. We rode horses all the time growing up. I remember Sunday afternoons we would get in pajamas and read on the backs of lazy horses. During the summer, these horses would stay in the backyard and ‘mow’ the lawn all summer long. While in the backyard, we would ride the horses until the sunset and the stars came out.

The video then skipped to the Navajo County pageant. My family spent years immersed in the pageant, as my mom choreographed the dances and Cierra was in it every year for about twelve years. I can remember back to the rehearsals where they gave us free soda! For hours I would walk around the fairgrounds and sing the songs the pageant girls danced to. In 2006 I decided I wanted to be in the pageant, so I practiced hard and got pretty dresses. By September I was well prepared and ready for a good time. I sang “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid and surprisingly enough, I won! I had a lot of fun, but one pageant was enough for me.:)

Christmas was next on the tape and we watched our young bodies crawl out of bed as Mom and Dad sang Christmas songs. I was so excited to get toe socks from Santa. He was good to me back then.:) Christmas was always so much fun, the whole family all together. Some of my favorite times were listening to old Christmas music when it got closer to the happy holiday.

I loved the chance I had to sit with my family and laugh at the silly faces, high pitched voices, and little bodies that used to be ours. (Thank goodness my voice changed and my teeth grew back in!) My family is usually going in seven different directions, so I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with them and reconnect with the past. I loved looking back and remembering some of my favorite times when my whole family was together.

Nowadays, my brother is off at NAU, my sister is in Korea, and I will soon be leaving for EAC.  It’s crazy to think that my little family will be all spread out and my parents will only have two kids at home. I am scared to take the jump into a completely new life, but I am so thankful that my parents prepared me for the fun journey ahead. Looking back, I can be nothing but grateful for the memories they have helped me create, and I also feel excited to go make more. They have raised me so I can make good choices by myself and I look forward to relying on the principles I learned while in such a humble home.