Oh that poor little girl. I can empathize with those very feelings. I loved to ride the escalators at Sears on North Avenue in Baltimore. We didn't go there often so it was a real treat to get to go. Once as I was enjoying going up, running around to the other side and riding down and repeating, my mother grabbed me by the arm and said, "Come on, Let's go!" I had no clue to the cause of her anger. As it turns out, my parents had left the store and were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot and realized no one was in the back seat. I teased them about it for a long long time.
That's quite a story. The universal themes of literature show up all the time in real life, and how beautiful is it that a person can make allusions that virtually everyone understands?
in light of all my recent silliness, it's strange that this rather serious piece came out, but i'm going with it. what can i say, i'm multifaceted and unpredictable. :-)
I've got to ask...is this a truth or dare post? Jk...cute story and I think one we can all relate to. I've never felt like Snow White but certainly one of the seven dwarves when that happened to me. Dopey comes to mind.
Weren't our parents so much more trusting - they shouldn't have been though...
When my father was little he won a running race at a church picnic and gave his name as Jock McGinnty (where that came from I don't know), they announced him as the winner with that name and for ever after has been called Jock.
Awww, that seems such a familiar feeling. That's such a sad little tale.
I wonder if we all called ourselves Snow White at one time or another? I used to call myself that when my mom made me sweep the porch and then I would sing that song about Prince Charming.
oh my, it's amazing how much things have changed in the last 30-40 years. my mom told me how she was in the hospital as a child for weeks without seeing her mother more than a few hours a day. it was considered best for the child to be taken care of by the nurses, time to rest and not getting too much excitement. she herself worked in the 60's in a nanny agency, where people would just call and have a nanny show up when needed. kiss the kids good bye and leave them in the hands of someone they'd never met before. i guess people just weren't as sensitive about the emotional life of children back then.
I had a bad experience with an elevator once. It broke and I was stuck in it for 3 or 4 hours. I was actually saved by an Auto repair man in Kannapolis. The repair guy was able to open the doors and get me out.
my four year old dgt calls her self little red ridding hood. :) my parents left me at an aunts house in a diferent city for a whole month when i was 4-5...and when my dad came back for me, i forgot him, and would not go to him... that has some never forget memories...
I remember another little girl being sent with money to the join the girl scouts alone in second grade. She chickened out and walked the mile home instead because she was afraid.
She still doesn't do anything alone if it can be avoided.
it's really, really interesting to me that people find this story much more sad than i intended...i was actually trying to be quite humorous. i realize i kinda blew that in the last paragraph, but it's been a very interesting learning experience.
Oh snow white.... your mom sounds more like the evil step mother than a mom.
My favorite memory that my sisters and I kick around is my mom buying herself candy bars to eat but not us. She would eat them in front of us. If my kids ask for anything or even a bite of what I have, I just hand the whole item over!!! I am middle aged and chunky... they are the ones who need to fatten up!
My younger sis and I think we missed out on the fat to grow boobs!! We feel permanently damaged LOL!!!
I also do not like walking into a room where everyone already knows one another. I've gotten much better with it over the years, but this used to cause me great anxiety.
Now I just try not to think about it ;) I really enjoy your blog!!
I was just enjoying your blog, having randomly stumbled upon your postings. i, too, was once dropped off at a nice little Presbyterian Bible school at a church we did not regularly attend. Being the good, obedient little girl I was, knowing one should never tell strangers one's own name or her brother's, I said my name was Jenny and my brother was little Bob. My mom was given a strange Mother's Day card that day, signed by children who were not hers, this Jenny and Bob not Kelly and Brad. We never returned. We were liars. Now I'm a Buddhist.
innerspace yoga--that is HILARIOUS!! i love it and i'm glad i'm not the only one it happened to...tho' we were prebyterian and i was dropped off with the lutherans. now i'm not really anything, but am thinking of looking into the old nordic asa religion. :-) thanks for telling that funny story!!
[Image]once upon a time a very, very long time ago, this little girl was dropped off to attend a week of bible school at a church in the little town where she grew up. now her family did not attend this church, but bible school was thought to be for anyone (thankfully very little of it stuck, except for a strange ability to, when pressed, remember the order of the books of the new testament). plus her parents thought, hey, free babysitting and a week of peace without the kid!
so her mother dropped her off outside the side door of the unfamiliar church, and despite her being quite small and never having been there before, just sent the child in without accompanying her. the child has a very clear memory of the crunch of the wheels of the stationwagon driving away on that little gravel road beside the church and how daunting that unknown door seemed. said child eventually plucked up the courage to go in and some people talked to her, inevitably asking her her name. feeling a bit shy and out of place and perhaps even having a vague feeling of having been abandoned out in the woods as well as having a healthy imagination, she informed them that she was called snow white.
she was pretty steadfast about the snow white thing and it took those people 'til mid-week to figure out who she really was. i guess someone finally spotted her mother, who didn't appear to be accompanied by seven dwarves, picking her up.
and they all lived happily ever after, but she still really hates going in alone to a new place full of new people who already know each other. and the man who owned the local pharmacy teased her about it for years afterwards, as he apparently found it such a sweet and amusing story. she got so she really hated to run into him. if he were still alive, she's sure he'd still remind her of it if she ran into him when she was back visiting that little town. some things you just don't live down.
34 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formOh that poor little girl. I can empathize with those very feelings. I loved to ride the escalators at Sears on North Avenue in Baltimore. We didn't go there often so it was a real treat to get to go. Once as I was enjoying going up, running around to the other side and riding down and repeating, my mother grabbed me by the arm and said, "Come on, Let's go!" I had no clue to the cause of her anger. As it turns out, my parents had left the store and were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot and realized no one was in the back seat. I teased them about it for a long long time.
Love your blog.
April 25, 2009 at 12:17 AM
Too sweet to make fun of. Involving actual death and all. What am I going to write now?
Way to trust!
April 25, 2009 at 12:19 AM
That's quite a story. The universal themes of literature show up all the time in real life, and how beautiful is it that a person can make allusions that virtually everyone understands?
April 25, 2009 at 12:23 AM
in light of all my recent silliness, it's strange that this rather serious piece came out, but i'm going with it. what can i say, i'm multifaceted and unpredictable. :-)
April 25, 2009 at 12:26 AM
I've got to ask...is this a truth or dare post? Jk...cute story and I think one we can all relate to. I've never felt like Snow White but certainly one of the seven dwarves when that happened to me. Dopey comes to mind.
April 25, 2009 at 12:58 AM
I love it! Children are beautiful and hilarious. So much of the light in this world comes from them. Thank you for this moment!
April 25, 2009 at 1:09 AM
Weren't our parents so much more trusting -
they shouldn't have been though...
When my father was little he won a running race at a church picnic and gave his name as Jock McGinnty (where that came from I don't know), they announced him as the winner with that name and for ever after has been called Jock.
happy days snow white.
April 25, 2009 at 2:44 AM
Oh I can't imagine doing that ...to a little one. Thank God you are ok. I have a hard time now (at 53) going somewhere new, on my own.
April 25, 2009 at 3:17 AM
What a touching story. I can really relate.
April 25, 2009 at 4:24 AM
how awful for the little one.
April 25, 2009 at 4:50 AM
Awww, that seems such a familiar feeling. That's such a sad little tale.
I wonder if we all called ourselves Snow White at one time or another? I used to call myself that when my mom made me sweep the porch and then I would sing that song about Prince Charming.
April 25, 2009 at 5:12 AM
Oh goodness, that is terrifying!!
xox
April 25, 2009 at 5:35 AM
oh my, it's amazing how much things have changed in the last 30-40 years. my mom told me how she was in the hospital as a child for weeks without seeing her mother more than a few hours a day. it was considered best for the child to be taken care of by the nurses, time to rest and not getting too much excitement. she herself worked in the 60's in a nanny agency, where people would just call and have a nanny show up when needed. kiss the kids good bye and leave them in the hands of someone they'd never met before. i guess people just weren't as sensitive about the emotional life of children back then.
April 25, 2009 at 6:27 AM
I had a bad experience with an elevator once. It broke and I was stuck in it for 3 or 4 hours. I was actually saved by an Auto repair man in Kannapolis. The repair guy was able to open the doors and get me out.
W.T.
April 25, 2009 at 8:08 AM
This is a poignant story and I find it interesting that the little girl stood steadfast in being Snow White.
April 25, 2009 at 2:51 PM
I love to hear childhood stories! They're always so heart-breakingly honest and still endearingly silly. How cute!
April 25, 2009 at 3:42 PM
what a wonderful story! and the picture just says it all =)
April 25, 2009 at 4:56 PM
my four year old dgt calls her self little red ridding hood. :) my parents left me at an aunts house in a diferent city for a whole month when i was 4-5...and when my dad came back for me, i forgot him, and would not go to him... that has some never forget memories...
April 25, 2009 at 8:07 PM
what nice sami stones you have pitctured in your header! they must be norwegian, surely?
April 25, 2009 at 9:25 PM
what a cute story! please visit my blog: http://losingweightisnoteasy.blogspot.com/
April 25, 2009 at 11:22 PM
How sweet and how sad!
I remember another little girl being sent with money to the join the girl scouts alone in second grade. She chickened out and walked the mile home instead because she was afraid.
She still doesn't do anything alone if it can be avoided.
April 25, 2009 at 11:28 PM
it's really, really interesting to me that people find this story much more sad than i intended...i was actually trying to be quite humorous. i realize i kinda blew that in the last paragraph, but it's been a very interesting learning experience.
thank you all for your thoughtful comments.
xox,
/j
April 25, 2009 at 11:44 PM
Great story...It made me smile...being the same type of little girl and all.
April 26, 2009 at 2:48 AM
Awww...that's terrible! I can't imagine dropping your own child off at a strange place and just leave.
If nothing else it may have made you stronger in some ways.
April 26, 2009 at 3:41 AM
what a wonderful story!
Have a great time....
April 26, 2009 at 5:35 AM
Oh snow white.... your mom sounds more like the evil step mother than a mom.
My favorite memory that my sisters and I kick around is my mom buying herself candy bars to eat but not us. She would eat them in front of us. If my kids ask for anything or even a bite of what I have, I just hand the whole item over!!! I am middle aged and chunky... they are the ones who need to fatten up!
My younger sis and I think we missed out on the fat to grow boobs!! We feel permanently damaged LOL!!!
Maybe too much info... see you later.
April 26, 2009 at 6:11 PM
What a sweet little story. Poor creative child!
Brenda
April 26, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Those are some nicely-pressed pleats in your synthetic fiber pants! Good thing Mom developed some taste when she dressed ME! Red and bawling, right?
April 26, 2009 at 11:24 PM
I love this story/memory.
I also do not like walking into a room where everyone already knows one another. I've gotten much better with it over the years, but this used to cause me great anxiety.
Now I just try not to think about it ;) I really enjoy your blog!!
April 27, 2009 at 1:56 AM
Deja vu all over again!
Actually, it was nice to read this in a more full blown way.
April 27, 2009 at 4:15 AM
I was just enjoying your blog, having randomly stumbled upon your postings. i, too, was once dropped off at a nice little Presbyterian Bible school at a church we did not regularly attend. Being the good, obedient little girl I was, knowing one should never tell strangers one's own name or her brother's, I said my name was Jenny and my brother was little Bob. My mom was given a strange Mother's Day card that day, signed by children who were not hers, this Jenny and Bob not Kelly and Brad. We never returned. We were liars. Now I'm a Buddhist.
April 28, 2009 at 5:33 PM
innerspace yoga--that is HILARIOUS!! i love it and i'm glad i'm not the only one it happened to...tho' we were prebyterian and i was dropped off with the lutherans. now i'm not really anything, but am thinking of looking into the old nordic asa religion. :-) thanks for telling that funny story!!
April 28, 2009 at 5:37 PM
its amazing the things we remember that happend years ago...and depending on how traumatizing it is...thats how much more details you will remember
May 2, 2009 at 4:29 PM
TOTALLY sounds like me, too! what a great story!
May 3, 2009 at 11:09 PM