A Few Fun Extras From Memoir

I’m still working on my memoir, believe it or not, and I wanted to share a few fun extras from 1997 that won’t make it into the book.

 

August 20, Sarah just asked me to get her the toy dishes to play with. As I walked with her to get them off the shelf, she said, "I'm smiling, because I'm a cute little girl."

 

August 29, Sarah had an ouchy which was irritating her, and she said in frustration, "I wish we were in Heaven!" Caleb agreed, "No crying, no sad, no mad, no dying."

 

September 9, Murray was looking at some mail at supper last night about his and Ping-Hwei's trip to Washington, D.C.for Promise Keepers. It said they would have to all take turns driving, so Murray told Ping-Hwei he would have to take a turn driving, too. Ping-Hwei said, "Uh-uh! Police take me to jail!"

 

September 11, Rebecca was complaining about her leg hurting tonight. I told her it was growing pains. Frustrated, she said, "Well, this is the one that always hurts. Is it going to be bigger than the other one?"

 

September 14, Last night Rebecca said, "When I grow up, I'm going to kill a big bug and cut off its face and save its eyes for a treasure."

 

October 10, While we were waiting for the bus this morning, Caleb said, "Sometimes I can feel myself grow if I stand really still."

 

October 17, This morning the three little rascals were playing while waiting for the bus. Caleb was Sarah's son, and she left him with Rebecca at church, because Rebecca was his Bible Schoolteacher. Later Rebecca was going to visit Sarah and Caleb in their home. She called them for directions. Sarah said, "Go straight on the street from the church and--" Rebecca said, "I'm not at the church; I'm at my house." Sarah didn't miss a beat. "Go to the church. Take the road straight, turn left, then right. . ."

 

October 23, Murray was cutting fingernails and toenails tonight. Caleb, when he was referring to getting his toenails cut, said, "Daddy, hang me upside down and do it."

 

Tonight we gave Ping-Hwei the car keys and asked him to put something in the car. He walked toward the door, jingling the keys and said, happily, "Good-bye!"

 

November 3: The other morning, Sarah told me, "I had a dream that Daddy bought a can of soup, but when he opened it, frogs jumped out instead."

 

November 5, At a party last week, Rebecca won for a prize a model of an eye, with wiggly parts inside. When she practices the piano, Murray usually sits with her and watches to help her. This afternoon, I asked Rebecca to practice her piano lessons. She said, "I need someone to watch me while I practice, so I'll get my eyeball."

 

November 24, At supper tonight, Caleb asked, "What if my school was built out of onions?"

 

December 1: Ping-Hwei's new nickname is Boss. The other day we were calling him Boss, and he said, "Benjamin, Little Boss."

 

December 22, 1997: The other day Sarah was noticing how many fingers and toes she had, five on each hand and foot. After she'd added them she said, "We have twenty things we can wiggle."

Sarah was playing with Benjamin's little musical bunny this morning, and noticing that its hands and feet and ears moved. She said, "He's moving his arms like he's praising the Lord."

 

December 25, The other night we had vegetable juice to drink for supper, but for simplicity sake, we told the kids it was tomato juice. Caleb picked up his glass and said, "I smell celery." Sure enough, when Murray checked out the ingredients, one of them was celery.

 

From memory-pictures I give to Murray at Valentine’s Day:

Whoa! What's going on here? You're at the library, and you've just slammed your finger in the car door and broken it. You grab Benjie and run in, handing him to a friend who works at the library. She shows you to a bathroom to run water over your finger. Soon another lady you know at the library comes in, acting very worried about what has happened. Then she calms down, says, "Oh, I thought it was the baby," and leaves you, although you're bleeding profusely.