Too Cool For School

I wonder what my daughter will remember when she's old enough to blog.

heh.

God help us (or me, really).

I've had enough trying to be a specific kind of mom. I figure, if you have to try, then it's probably not natural. I'm certainly not for labels, or attempting to fit myself into a box. But I think we all want to be memorable, at least in a good way.

We all have memories about our childhoods. That mean bully from across the street. The time we fell off our bike and scraped our knee.

And the Snow White lunchbox with the game on the back.

I remember that lunchbox like it was still in my hand. I proudly carried it to school everyday, packed full of the most disgusting health food lunches (hello, carob balls). My mom searched high and low for it. And I remember seeing it for the first time and just holding it like it was the most precious thing I had ever seen.

But the best part was this cool spin the wheel game on the back. Everyone thought it was the bee's knees. They'd come around the table and play.

I was the girl with the cool lunchbox.

Sometimes stuff doesn't matter. It's the experiences in life. But sometimes, stuff can be pretty cool.

You just never know what your kid will remember. So pick well, my friends. Pick well.

What's your favorite "thing" from your childhood? I had a kickass pair of sneaks that I swear made me run faster.

Comments

[Shaina]

All I can say is it's ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE...you all have done a wonderful job, I'm thrilled!!!
Lets leave the flowers on the front off since they aren't really going to be seen. I kind of like the simplicity of just the plain white w/the color around the bottom. She's such a little girl I think simple is better. But I'm definitely satisfied the the decision to put the flowers on the back. And your idea to put both the chocolate/pink together was fabulous.. it's beautiful!! And the little headband is great as well. It's all just perfect!!
Thank you so much for all your help!
http://www.flowergirldressforless.com

[Lady M]

Holly Hobby lunchbox. I don't even remember liking Holly Hobby, but the lunchbox was great!

[Jill]

I chose a pair of jeans from the Sears catalog that I loved dearly. My best friend bought the same pair so we could wear them the same days. They were turquoise and yellow plaid bell bottoms. Whoo Hoo for the 70's!!!!

I still have my dolls and a few stuffed animals, sitting on my son's top shelves. I collected stuffed animals and put a piece of masking tape on each of the 100 of them with its name on it. My dad helped me build shelves to display them.

[BabyInBroad]

I loved boots as a kid. I had several pairs, and I wore them with everything, but I remember a particular pair of white cowboy boots (shut UP!) that I swear looked good with everything. Really!

[Cara]

I sewed a Guess triangle tag on a pair of cheap jeans when I was in 7th grade too! No one ever knew.

I think my favorite thing from my childhood was my room itself. I fancied myself an artist and my mom said that I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to it. I painted a mural on one wall of two castles and a bunch of sea and a red dragon. I got the idea from the covers of some Ursula K. LeGuin books (the books of Earthsea).

What sucked, however, is that I never took a picture of it and my parents painted over it while I was away at college.

[Jessica]

I didn't have a store-bought dress until I was in high school. My mother sewed everything for me. From scratch. Including ruffled panties to match each dress. If I changed clothes, I changed everything so that I was matchy-matchy from the skin out. My mom put so much love and effort into everything she made for me and I cherish those memories!

[Lisse]

What a smart mother!

Sadly, I was way on the other end of cool most of the time. In Kindergarten however, I had this dress with patent leather turtles appliqued near the hem (see previous sentence). I used to put my hands in the pockets of that dress and make the turtles "walk." Never failed to make a sad/scared friend smile.

That was cool.

[Smiling Mom]

There was this one time in 5th or 6th grade where I'd grown out of my one pair of Guess jeans and I wanted another pair. Well, we po' folk couldn't afford anymore expensive jeans so My mom took the Guess logo off the back right pocket of my now too small pair of jeans and sewed them onto a pair of cheep-o jeans we got at Kmart.

Then my friend's older sister came up to me and said, "OMG. I totally have that SAME pair of jeans!!"

I remember smiling and thinking that I had the coolest mom ever.