Memories, like the corners of my mind...

I was reminded of a really funny family memory that just keeps raising its' ugly head in our family, so I thought I would share with my readers.

About 5 years ago, the kids and I traveled to Louisville Kentucky. Justine was just a wee little one, around 6 or 7 months old, Jaiden was 3, Jack was 4 and Jordan was 12. We drove to Louisville as it was a halfway point to drop off Jordan to visit her dad. We made a mini vacation out of it. We had a great time staying in a nice hotel, going to the Spaghetti Factory, riding in a "horse and cabbage," and going to the zoo.

On the way home, we drove the "scenic" route through rural Kentucky. Surprisingly, they all traveled very well... at least as far as my memory serves me 5 years later. How good could it have been driving by myself with 3 children ages 4 and under? It's amazing how we block those things out of our minds... anyway we stopped at a drive thru in the middle of no where. I mean the absolute middle of no where. I remember it was the 4th of July and we were trying to get home in time for fireworks. So, we were eating on the run...

As I pulled through the drive thru, the woman at the window said really loudly and really fast,

"ugottabirrrddstuknyurgreeellll."

"What?"

"UGOTTABIRRRDDSTUKNYURGREEELLL."

"Uh, no thank you."

"No, UGOTTABIRRRDDSTUKNYURGREEELLL."

"Um, no. I just want what I ordered."

"Mam, You Got A BIRD Stuck in your Grill."

"OH.

Sure enough there was a dead bird stuck in the grill of my Expedition. Why she felt the need to tell me this as she was handing me our food, I will never know. But my kids say this all the time. Justine, who was only a baby when this happened, taught her entire preschool church class how to say, "ugottabirdstuckinyourgrill" yesterday. It was one of my prouder moments.

This is only one example of "memories" that our kids have that they could never actually remember. They remember because we talk about it. I love the tradition of telling family stories. Justine "remembers" a lot of things that she wasn't even around for. I hope the new kids will "remember" a lot of family memories just from us talking, laughing and sharing with them.

Oh if only I'd had a blog back then....