Now Playing: The Love Bug

The master bedroom was at the top of the stairs and to the right.  The only details I remember are the green-themed bathroom — green towels, green rugs, green soap dish — separated from the bedroom by a short hallway, and the television cabinet standing in the corner of the bedroom, directly across from the queen-sized bed.  There was a nightstand on either side of the bed, and Dad would always lay his thick eyeglasses on the one on his side.  Sometimes I would sneak over and put them on myself, wondering what it would look like.  It was terrible.  The glasses blurred everything into imperceptible shapes.  After I took them off, my eyes would hurt for a little while.

I remember sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the carpet in front of the TV cabinet and watching movies.  The Love Bug was the best one.  Herbie was a tiny Volkswagon Bug with racing stripes that no one thought would be a good racer, but he was really fast and always won the races.  He also had a mind of his own, which I thought was really funny.  I loved to watch Herbie.

  

These were the days before DVDs.  Behind the TV cabinet's doors there were a ton of videocassette tapes stacked in piles.  At least, that is how I remember it.  I would eagerly open the doors and search for Herbie, then take the movie out of its case and shove it into the VCR player.

We also had all the New Testament and Book of Mormon videos.  My favorite New Testament video was the one about Christ's birth, because it had a baby in it! And I really liked the wise men on top of their camels, and the big, bright star in the sky.  I remember Brooke and I sitting on the carpeted floor in front of that TV cabinet on Sundays, watching the scripture stories.

This was in our old house, our first house, in El Cajon, CA.  This was the house with the long driveway and the enormous backyard, with a field of green grass and another field of dirt.  We had a seesaw, a big metal one, planted in the grass, next to the tetherball pole.  This is where we had Sunny, the golden retriever.  I don't remember her—only that she ran away and we searched for her but she was gone forever.  This is when we lived next door to Jeanmarie, Lucy, and Buddy.

One time Kyle, Jennifer, Brooke, and I (baby Madelyn was probably sleeping) were home and were watching TV in the family room.  We were watching a movie about a big boat that Kyle and Jennifer said was good.  I remember there was a part when they told Brooke and me that we had to go stand in the kitchen, because we weren't allowed to see what was happening.  We stepped onto the tiled floor of the kitchen and waited patiently for them to tell us we could come back.  We were watching Titanic.  That is one of the only memory I have of that family room.

And so it goes.

Love, Me