Fun Monday #26

Our host for this week's Fun Monday is Molly from Return of the White Robin and our assignment is this:

For your assignment tell us about a happy memory from your childhood. If you have pictures, please show us your pictures.

Hmmm...happy childhood memories. I have few recollections of my childhood and I think that is to do with being an only child. Himself has 7 siblings to bounce memories off and they all seem to be able to remember things that happened when they were younger. Probably because they each have other people who experienced the same things to talk to about them and that helps either keep the memories fresh or to jog memories.

My childhood was not blissfully happy. My parents divorced when I was 9 and there was a battle royal for custody of me. A battle my father only wanted to win because he couldn't bear to lose any argument. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't beaten or abused or neglected in any way. My mother loved me and I'm sure my father did in his own way too. But if I tell you my earliest memory is of me being bundled into a car by my mother and her driving to some remote place where she sat and cried her heart out, that will give you a taster of how it was in our house. I later put two and two together and was able to work out that that was the occasion when my mother found out about my father's first affair. At least, I assume it was his first. It certainly wasn't his last.

But I do have distant memories of staying with my cousins on their farm and being allowed to run free and wild as long as we were home for dinner. We climbed walls, picked gooseberries, ran with the sheep, stacked bales of hay in the barn then climbed them and jumped off them, we dared each other to go into the field where the bull lived and helped out with the sheep dipping and sheering.

It was idyllic and looking back now those were amongst the happiest and most carefree days of my life. I wish life could be so carefree now.

Go over to Molly's place and see who else is participating this week!