I just got back from the landfill...

[LeftyFingerPop]

or "the dump" as we used to call it. I did not use the word "dump" in the thread title to prevent the obvious copycat. :P

My dad used to take me to the dump. He had a HUGE Ford dump truck. He was a hard working man. To a kid, that truck was heaven. There was so much junk on the old leather seat, you could barely sit down. Machine parts, tools, more tools, and empty Tiparillo packs.

He used to let me sit on his lap and "drive" the truck when we reached the old dirt road entering the dump. The steering wheel was so big to me, I remember having to really stretch my arms to grab it. Of course, I wasn't "really" steering, he was.

My dad died when I was 11, and this is a fond memory that I have.

I go to the landfill a lot as an adult now, and this memory is rekindled every time I do.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What a great memory, my dear philboy...

:hug:

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. Indeed Peggy...

it's the seemingly little things we remember...maybe they aren't so little after all :hug:

[skygazer]

3. Nice memory

I think of my mom every time I ride a roller coaster - she loved them and introduced me to them when I was just a kid. I was 14 when she died so I understand where you're coming from. :hug:

And forgive me the copycat. :P

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. Nice memories...

:hug:

[Darth_Kitten]

5. that's sweet........

hang onto those great memories. :hug:

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. Well, I'm 48 now...

and I will always remember them :hug:

Feeling a little low today...drove by my old house, which is now a piece of shit, and most likely a drug den. The old neighborhood has deteriorated into a slum of sorts.

I have been thinking about how hard it is for a child to lose a parent so young. It makes you have to get tough, both physically and mentally, before your time. I think that can sometimes cause problems later in life.

In some strange way, I am glad I didn't have children.

I wouldn't want to bail out on them early and have them go through that.

Oh well...I shouldn't have gone and looked at the old house.
:cry:

[Parche]

10. I Feel Your Pain

:hug: :hug:

Me too..............:hi:

[LeftyFingerPop]

11. Parche...

:hug: :hi:

[Darth_Kitten]

13. I think that losing a parent does affect you for your entire life.....

it shapes your choices, of course. Our childhoods define us more than I think any of us realize.

Despite me never having a father as a kid (long story), I still get sentimental for the childhood I had. Sometimes I go to my grandmother's old house and think about all the happy memories I had there. I lived with my mother, of course, but we moved a couple of times around the city (no real sentimental attachment to these places), so the one constant place I remember was Grandma's house.
Now it's a rental and they changed it. The once open lawns are fenced in, with way too many shrubs put in. Looks kind of grungy. :( It's made me cry a few tears.

Think of the house when it wasn't in it's current state. It's okay to be sentimental and reflective.

[lost-in-nj]

6. Phillboy

I remember my dad letting me drive the chevy when we
turned down our block........

:hug:

memories rock.....



lost

[LeftyFingerPop]

8. They are the...

best thing....memories :hug: And the good thing is....in the future, there will be more memories.

[LaraMN]

9. Aww! Sweet!

I remember my dad driving me out to the gravel pit when I was a kid, so I could bury a dead bluebird I'd found (and climb on the piles of dirt and rocks.)

Who needs Disney World?

:-)

[LeftyFingerPop]

12. Oh man, the gravel pit!!!

my dad used to take me there. He would start a big fire to burn the wire insulation off old motors so he could sell the remaining copper for scrap. Good money that was.

:P Who needs Disney World indeed!!