#34

We made a good team.  The pile was infested and had to be moved away from the house.  It was the first job he was big enough to really help me with.  Bittersweet.  

#33

He is named Matches.  I don’t know why his two-year old brain decided to name him that, but it stuck.  I’ll make a similar one for his sister soon.  I’m curious to see what she’ll name hers. 

#32

We had the best tea parties.

#31

A passion flower vine used to grow right beside it.  They have these strange spherical seedpods.  We would always throw them against the house, making them explode.  He would always jokingly accuse me of causing the crack to appear with my strong throws.  

#30

She had this thing with touching my feet in the bed.  I hated it at first.  Over the years, I’ve grown accustomed.  

#29

It’s their front door.  I lived there for 18 years and still probably couldn’t pick it out in a lineup.  It really was only opened for specific “front door guests.”  We were side door people.   

#28

When she said she wanted to quit her job and go back to school, it scared me to death.  But, somehow the money was just there through it all.  Now I can't imagine her as anything but a librarian. 

#27

They said to expect an eight pounder, so we picked out her "coming home" outfit accordingly.  When it came time for her to actually come home, she was only five pounds twelve ounces.  At least the dress fits nicely in this composition.     

#26

"I don't think you're happy enough. That's right!  I'll teach you to be happy. I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs.  Now boys and girls, lets try it again..."

#25

She kept everything from my childhood.  As he aged, thirty-year-old toys slowly started making their way back into my life.  I still can't believe she kept them so long.  He does love that horse.

#24

A beahuahua (be-wa-wa), as in a cross between a beagle and a chihuahua.  He was supposed to remain tiny, only getting to around ten pounds.  So, we went with irony and named him Fezzik after Andre the Giant's character from The Princess Bride.  Eight years later, he's not so tiny anymore and Fezzik is now only secondarily a movie character name.  

#23

Hill and Dale.  It is such a strange name for a street.  Telling people we live at the corner of Hill and Dale and Taylor Mill always produces the same puzzled look.  How can three roads make a corner?   No, no, Hill and Dale is the name of a single, strange little road.   

#22

For like two weeks, it was magic.  In his mind, the simple Dollar Tree pinwheel had become Dumbo's feather.  Arm stretched high, pinwheel spinning, both dimples deep.   He ran, seemingly non-stop, through the house "flying."  Then one day he put it down on this red box and moved on.  

#21

Mom loves wildflowers.  Black-eyed Susans have always been a part of her backyard.  I plan to get a start of them this summer.  I think I need a patch of them in my yard as well. 

#20

I was at least ten before anyone told me her real name was Lillian.  When she had to be moved into the home, we helped her clean out her house.  She gave me this set of tiny carved elephants.  I doubt she ever missed them.

#19

My dad called them "cigar trees."  I was always fascinated by the seed pods that hung from the one up the street.  Now I have two huge, gnarly ones in my front yard.  I'm still fascinated by the seed pods. 

#18

Her bell collection covered her entire coffee table and three wall shelves.  It was all I could do not to touch them, as I had been told.  When I got older, I was allowed to ring one at a time.  Now they live in the two center drawers of Grandpa's old chifferobe.   Even looking at them this way, I can still remember the exact ring of certain ones. 

#17

I bought it on Craigslist.  The first time I fired it, I nearly burned down our house. 

#16

It is her favorite season.  She likes getting her long sleeves out again after a hot summer. 

#15

Yes, we knew they didn't match our decor but we bought them anyway.