Blog Every Day in May {Day 18}

Day 18, Saturday: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

I remember when I was starting the 1st grade. It was my first year at the elementary school down the street from my parents' house (I had been in private preschool and Kindergarten before that). I was excited but scared, too. Probably more scared than excited since I didn't "know" anyone at school.

Then I remember one night before school started, getting a phone call from my grandma and she sounded upset. My dad took the phone because my mom was at work. And I remember feeling like something bad had happened.

My mom got home later that day and she sat down with me and told me that my Aunt Diane had died. She was only 44. She said that she had slipped in the bathtub and got hurt.

I remember being sad, but also not really understanding what that meant. I'd never had a family member die before, and my Aunt Diane was such a cool and fun aunt. And she had the cutest dog, Muffy, who I used to play with when we would visit.

The part that registered with me was that my mom was going to have to go to Iowa for the funeral, and she was going to miss my first day of school. I was so upset, and worried even more about my first day at the new school (I was a worry wart even then! haha)

I remember taking my mom to the airport, and along the way back, my dad and I stopped at one of the scenic overlooks along the way to the airport (every time I drive past these on my way to see my parents, I remember these stops we would take). And it made me feel a little better.

And then the morning I woke up for my first day of first grade, my dad gave me a present that my mom had left for me. A cute little stuffed mouse that had HUGE ears, that I had fallen in love with when I saw it at the grocery store the week before or so. She had left it for me to have something to be happy about, and maybe not miss her as much. I still have that little mouse to this day, Mousey (I was creative with my stuffed animal names, what can I say?).

I literally had my mom find this stuffed animal and take a picture of it
for this post haha

It's probably going to be one of a few stuffed animals I keep and give to my kiddos whenever I have babies.