Listography 2013 - #8 - Memories of Our Son
1. When Darrin was born, we lived in a tiny 2-room house on the farm. His crib was in our bedroom and he had one drawer for clothes in the bottom of our dresser. He had a jolly jumper that hung over the door frame and his walker could make a complete circle of the floor space in about one minute! We moved into our new, much bigger home on his first birthday.
2. Someone had given us a wooden playpen and his first summer we spent hours outside. There were puppies on the farm and he loved to have one of them inside the playpen with him. He's loved dogs from the very beginning.
3. We milked cows and I usually did the evening milking so he would come with me and sit in the milking parlor in an old pram, playing with toys, having snacks and watching us milk. He was 3 months old when that routine started.
4. His first word was 'cows' - no surprise after reading #3! Bob had a 1971 Dodge pickup and Darrin's carseat was in the middle. We'd be driving home from church and every vehicle that passed us got the greeting of 'cows, cows!"
5. The Fisher-Price farm set was one of his very favourite toys. There was a horse and cart that pulled many of the little people around and around our living room.
6. My Dad generously gave him many, many toy tractors and farm implements. They provided hours and hours of playtime fun.
7. Bob built many skating rinks on our front lawn and Darrin spent hours out there skating around pylons and carrying pucks on his hockey stick. We'd eat breakfast after Bob came in from chores and then the two of them would lace up their skates and spend a big part of the morning out on the rink.
8. Learning to ride his two-wheeled bike on the front lawn was such a milestone. I remember thinking how this ability to travel faster and further would open up the world for him.
9. He started to cut the grass, using our riding tractor, when he was 7. Kids on the farm always learn to drive early and become excellent drivers from all the practice with small machines. He is such a good driver now.
10. It was a natural progression to move to driving farm machinery and when he was 10, Bob had him driving the swather and cutting hay. I made many trips to the field to check and make sure everything was okay, give him snacks and break times. The #1 rule was if anything went wrong, stop the machine and wait until someone came. There were no cell phones in those days but later we did have CB radios so he could call for help.
11. Darrin loved to sit beside me on the couch and read books while I nursed his little sisters. We spent many hours with Hop on Pop; In a People House; Go, Dog, Go and 10 Apples Up On Top. Later it was the Bearenstain Bear books and we soon had a complete collection of those.
12. Our children often stayed with my parents and once, when he was about 5, he and my Dad found a black terrier, named Candy, that became our family dog. Those two were fast friends and Candy was so very protective of him (and the girls too). There was no doubt that they loved each other.
13. Playing hockey started in grade 1 when the first hockey arena was built in our local town. He continued to play hockey through his school years and then at university. Hours and hours and hours were spent at arenas and travelling to games across Alberta. Hockey camps and power skating schools were part of his summer holidays for years and years.
How quickly the time has passed! And how many memories are tucked away! I'm so happy to record these few today. Love you, Son!
