1993 was the year that began a new chapter in my life.
It was the sixth grade, the first year of lockers, multiple classes, finding out that there were actually other people in my class, and the year we moved. We had lived the town of Shelley since I was very young. I loved it! I walked or rode my bike everywhere, my friends lived just through the block, or next door, and I didn't have to ride the bus to school. Sometimes we did catch the bus at the middle school to go to the elementary schools, or stopped at King's to buy candy on the way to school. During the summer, we went swimming at the city pool as often as I could dig up the dollar it cost. Those times were truly what little kids dream of, lazy summer days!
Then my parents decided that they wanted to build a new house. Why? I don't really know. But I was excited until I realized it meant that we would have to move. It was only five or six miles out of town, so I wouldn't really have to lose my friends, but things would definitely be different. I would have to ride the bus, I'd have to change wards, which sorta meant having to make new friends. Even though I went to school with the same people. The house was literally in the middle of a field, not on a paved road. Some mornings when I was running late, I would have to RUN to the bus at the end of the lane. When I got there sometimes I would be covered in mud. My teachers always got mad at me for tracking mud everywhere.
We spent all the summer of '93 working on the house. I drilled every stinking hole for wiring through every wall of that house, hammered so many nails... We took our camper out to the house and would eat our lunches in it. Sometimes dinners. And sometimes breakfasts. Long, long hours spent there. We had a delay when my dad fell in the crawl space and broke some ribs. During that time, our ward went out and put the roof on for us. So nice, but more importantly, it meant we didn't have have to do it.
Our house sold in November, and we weren't ready to move. My parent's toyed with the idea of staying in our camper through the winter. In the end we lived with my Grandma and Grandpa for three months (I don't know why I remember, but we moved on December 15, 1993). That was so stressful on all of us. They lived in Idaho Falls, so that meant we had to drive from Idaho Falls to go to school in Shelley. My mom worked nights in Idaho Falls, so she would get off, pick us up and take us to school, go work at the house while we were in school, pick us up, we would do whatever activities we have (Dance, piano, etc), work on the house, then we'd get back to my Grandpa's, have dinner, then she'd go to work. I have no idea when she slept! That was about when I quit piano lessons. I had to practice on my Grandma's organ, and by the time lessons came I was so grumpy and didn't want to go, my mom didn't want to fight me on it, so I quit. We couldn't afford school pictures. My poor mother. When we finally moved in, the house wasn't finished. We were still putting in some appliances, we only had some of the carpet, working on tile, putting up wallpaper, etc. At least it was our house!
Then the mud set in. A friend through the field's dad died, so I went over and cried and cried with her. Then we were going to come over to my house to play Mario. It was forever around the field, so we just walked through it. I think we lost shoes and got sucked in up to our knees. Our cars were always muddy. Our little Geo got stuck several times in our lane. When people would come pick me up for something, or drop me off after something, they would always just meet us or pick us up at the end of the lane because they didn't want to drive through the mud, or sometimes it was the eighty feet of snow.. I was always so embarrassed by our road.
Tensions in our family were starting to get high. Yet, I still found ways to be a little kid. There were miles and miles of dirt fields to run with the dogs through. It was kind of hard to make new friends, but I did. I had a phone in my room, so I could talk to my friends in town. In privacy. I rode my bike into town several times to meet friends. I had several sleep overs (where we froze a bra and almost lost a friend). And I eventually turned 12 and entered Young Women. And that would start another new chapter!
P.S.- I've changed it so that any one can make a comment. So all you blog stalkers out there without Google accounts can now make comments.
It was the sixth grade, the first year of lockers, multiple classes, finding out that there were actually other people in my class, and the year we moved. We had lived the town of Shelley since I was very young. I loved it! I walked or rode my bike everywhere, my friends lived just through the block, or next door, and I didn't have to ride the bus to school. Sometimes we did catch the bus at the middle school to go to the elementary schools, or stopped at King's to buy candy on the way to school. During the summer, we went swimming at the city pool as often as I could dig up the dollar it cost. Those times were truly what little kids dream of, lazy summer days!
Then my parents decided that they wanted to build a new house. Why? I don't really know. But I was excited until I realized it meant that we would have to move. It was only five or six miles out of town, so I wouldn't really have to lose my friends, but things would definitely be different. I would have to ride the bus, I'd have to change wards, which sorta meant having to make new friends. Even though I went to school with the same people. The house was literally in the middle of a field, not on a paved road. Some mornings when I was running late, I would have to RUN to the bus at the end of the lane. When I got there sometimes I would be covered in mud. My teachers always got mad at me for tracking mud everywhere.
We spent all the summer of '93 working on the house. I drilled every stinking hole for wiring through every wall of that house, hammered so many nails... We took our camper out to the house and would eat our lunches in it. Sometimes dinners. And sometimes breakfasts. Long, long hours spent there. We had a delay when my dad fell in the crawl space and broke some ribs. During that time, our ward went out and put the roof on for us. So nice, but more importantly, it meant we didn't have have to do it.
Our house sold in November, and we weren't ready to move. My parent's toyed with the idea of staying in our camper through the winter. In the end we lived with my Grandma and Grandpa for three months (I don't know why I remember, but we moved on December 15, 1993). That was so stressful on all of us. They lived in Idaho Falls, so that meant we had to drive from Idaho Falls to go to school in Shelley. My mom worked nights in Idaho Falls, so she would get off, pick us up and take us to school, go work at the house while we were in school, pick us up, we would do whatever activities we have (Dance, piano, etc), work on the house, then we'd get back to my Grandpa's, have dinner, then she'd go to work. I have no idea when she slept! That was about when I quit piano lessons. I had to practice on my Grandma's organ, and by the time lessons came I was so grumpy and didn't want to go, my mom didn't want to fight me on it, so I quit. We couldn't afford school pictures. My poor mother. When we finally moved in, the house wasn't finished. We were still putting in some appliances, we only had some of the carpet, working on tile, putting up wallpaper, etc. At least it was our house!
Then the mud set in. A friend through the field's dad died, so I went over and cried and cried with her. Then we were going to come over to my house to play Mario. It was forever around the field, so we just walked through it. I think we lost shoes and got sucked in up to our knees. Our cars were always muddy. Our little Geo got stuck several times in our lane. When people would come pick me up for something, or drop me off after something, they would always just meet us or pick us up at the end of the lane because they didn't want to drive through the mud, or sometimes it was the eighty feet of snow.. I was always so embarrassed by our road.
Tensions in our family were starting to get high. Yet, I still found ways to be a little kid. There were miles and miles of dirt fields to run with the dogs through. It was kind of hard to make new friends, but I did. I had a phone in my room, so I could talk to my friends in town. In privacy. I rode my bike into town several times to meet friends. I had several sleep overs (where we froze a bra and almost lost a friend). And I eventually turned 12 and entered Young Women. And that would start another new chapter!
P.S.- I've changed it so that any one can make a comment. So all you blog stalkers out there without Google accounts can now make comments.
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