Friday, October 20, 2006

basements

I would like a basement.
I keep telling my husband that I would be so happy if I had a basement. Is that wrong?!
Well, when you live in Phx. AZ it is, cuz it just ain't gonna happen.

But do you know how wonderful my life would be with a basement?
We would be able to get both cars in our garage.
We would be able to cool off from these long, hot summers.
We would have a place to go when... you know... oh ya, in Phx. there are no weather conditions that require a basement. Ever!

But I have great memories growing up with a basement.

Each year around this time, it was moving day. I would move my playhouse from the old wooden corn crib summer home to the basement for the winter months. It was a big deal. I loved moving day... a time to redecorate and reorganize my playhouse.
We also spent many nights in the basement waiting out a tornado... while my Dad would be in the barn or upstairs watching the devastation unfold... later telling us the big oak tree was down... the calf barn roof was peeled off... or the neighbors barn was gone.
I also spent many hours playing ping pong with my brothers. We were a fiercely competitive family! So it got rather physical!
Then... well... then there were those nights... heck, EVERY night... that I was asked to go down to the basement and get a half dozen potatoes... Schwan's ice cream... canning jars of corn or green beans... maybe an onion.
My point? Well, BASEMENTS ARE SOOO SCAARRY AT NIGHT!!
I'd spend hours every day in the basement... but come night fall, all I could imagine was someone grabbing my ankles as I made my way down the open stairway. I would scream a closed-mouth kinda scream... as I ran down those basement stairs... grabbing whatever and tearing back up those stairs, three steps at a time! My heart would be racing as I set the item down on the kitchen counter, having survived yet another trip to the basement. You see... the basement was not a pretty site... very dark, damp and musty smelling... unlike the basement in my parents home. Their basement was THE place! My kids loved to play ping pong, pretend and drink pop! And ever since they can remember, my kids have slept in the old bunk beds in their basement. My Mom still puts the same Pound Puppy sheets on those bunks! It's about making memories...
Hey, just had a thought... the memories they have of those times in the basements were a big deal because WE didn't have one... it was new, exciting and different. So I'm OK with not having a basement, when I hear my kids telling the stories... reminiscing... sharing the memories.

8 comments:

  1. I love your basement story... and the pound puppy sheets, how cute is that. You are so right, it is about making memories! Memories... now those are blessings indeed.
    Blessings,
    Nancy

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  2. Anonymous8:07 PM

    this is another scrapbook page ... I can't beleive how much journaling you're doing. ...

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  3. Anonymous10:39 PM

    Actually the pound puppy sheets probably have never left the bunk beds... that is why they stick in my mind, because I doubt they have ever been washed or changed in my 22 years of sleeping on them... I think that is why we love them so much... you also forgot to mention the wood shoot that we would climb down so grandma wouldn't know we were there... oh the memories... gosh I love that place.

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  4. Anonymous10:31 PM

    I love grandma and grandpa's basement. So many memories as a kid and yes pound puppy sheets ha! Oh and let me tell you Kennady is way braver than me...first time she slept down there (we played cards up stairs for a bit) she walked all the way across the basement and up the stairs in the DARK!!! oh and she was only 2 years old!!!

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  5. You know, Agritopia in Gilbert has basements, and it is near US! How is that for a double temptation!

    It was fun to see you over the weekend.

    Scott

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  6. Good storytelling! That is sorta what life is, telling stories. It was great to see you and Randy over the weekend.

    Stormy

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  7. Anonymous7:12 PM

    I love your storytelling. And Im so glad I actually got to see the basement and play those competitive games of ping pong! Speaking of, I am currently scrapping my first trip to WISCONSIN! Thanks for bringing your fun passions into our lives. Where are the Halloween pics?

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  8. Anonymous12:00 PM

    OH DONT FORGET THE TIME GARY & I ATE OUR SUPPER ON THE PING PONG TABLE IN THE BASEMENT DUE TO MISS BEHAVING AT THE DINNER TABLE. AND REMEMBER JUMPING FROM THE STEP AND SWINGING ON THE PIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS. SOME OF OUR COUSINS TRIED AND LANDED ON THEIR BACKS BUT NO US LARSONS. OH AND REMEMBER ALL THE ROWS OF CAN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES MOM HAD DONE. BASEMENT HELD LOTS OF STUFF ALONG WITH LOTS OF MEMORIES ON THE FARM.

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