20 Things I Remember From When I Was A Kid

1. I had about 500 stuffed animals, with names and backstories for each one.
2. The original 3 American Girls: Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly.
3. Lisa Frank was the shit. I had a notebook with a picture of a giant glass heart levitating over a checkered floor. It was the most beautiful piece of artwork I had ever seen.
4. I didn't get in trouble a lot, but when I did it was usually for not cleaning my room. If I got in trouble at school, it was probably for something like reading under my desk.
5. Calvin and Hobbes helped me win a geography bee.
6. The elementary school I went to had green carpeting, and none of the classrooms had doors. They had those weird cork walls on metal tracks that you could move to change the rooms.
7. I hated wearing jeans or pants. Only dresses or skirts, preferably pink. Culottes were also acceptable.
8. When my dad came home from business trips, he would bring us the little bottles of shampoo from the hotel.
9. One time at a K-mart, Emily and Pete and I managed to knock over an entire clothing rack.
10. When you talked back to Mom, she had a way of saying "Excuse me?" that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
11. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches.
12. Putting the cat in a pillowcase and dragging him down the stairs.
13. Putting the cat on top of the dollhouse and watching him slide down the roof. There were big claw tracks in the paint forevermore.
14. Walking home from school on The Path, and catching caterpillars.
15. When the music teacher was teaching us a new song, she would see me raise my hand and say, "Yes, I know you can play this on the piano."
16. Before we went sledding, we would put on our snowpants and go "sledding" down the stairs. The slick fabric made it really fun.
17. Out of all the Baby Sitters Club girls, I related to Mallory the most. All she wanted was to be left alone to read or write in her journal, and someone was always hassling her.
18. Taking karate classes along with the rest of the family, and hating them. The only good thing was that we often went out for pizza afterwards.
19. The sound of the trains in the distance at night when I was starting to fall asleep.
20. The time I convinced Pete to help me tear open a beanbag chair and spread the styrofoam pellets all over the living room. I didn't care that I got a massive spanking and sent to my room for the rest of the day. It was the most epic awesome mess I'd ever made, and I would've done it all over again.