Memory Lane...

so the other day i had a completely random memory.  i'm talking so random that it even surprised myself.  anybody from the old crew remember how we used to write stories back in like junior high??  well my random memory was about the story that i wrote where we all took a trip to vegas and christina b. ran away with the white tigers.  wow.  and you thought your thoughts were random :)  so anyways, it got me thinking.  i wonder if i could remember a random thought about every year of my life.  let's try shall we?

obviously the first few years of my life i wouldn't remember anything so these will just be stories about me that i remember.

1- i remember how my mom told me she had a HORRIBLE experience in the german hospital and just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.  as a result, she decided to not get her tubes tied as planned and got out of dodge.  can you imagine life without "little roger"???? i know, me neither :)

2- i "remember" how my dad left me and my big brother in the car (running) while going into the restaurant/bar where my mom worked to tell her we had arrived to pick her up...this was literally going to take like 60 seconds.  well, apparently 60 seconds is long enough for me to crawl into the front seat, pull down the shifter lever, scrape a few cars, and drive off about a 10 foot "cliff."  luckily me and aaron were ok.  after pops came running out, aaron made sure to take all blame off him by saying "but dad, i told him to turn!!"

3/4-the only memory i have from virginia beach besides the snails is riding my big bro's bike for the first time without training wheels...i'm assuming since i actually have a short memory of this, i must have been 4 pushing 5.

5/6- ahhhh, vegas.  and kindergarten.  so as the story goes, i came crying home one day after getting off the bus.  i explain to my mom, "this girl on the bus called me a stupid mexican."  to which my mom replies (she always had a way with words ;) haha love ya mama) "well travis, you are mexican."  and i reply, "no i'm not, my dad is!"  :)

7- we move into our new house and i can remember putting on those hooded towels and jumping down the stairs saying "SUPERMAAAAN!"  Honestly, though, who didn't do that as a child?

8- tetherball superstar.  i don't know why i have random memories playing tetherball, but i remember me and my friend percy knight were masters.  the only people that beat us were eachother.

9- third grade.  i remember my teacher mrs. wise.  and i also remember this was the year that i switched to four-square.  my famous killer hit was the "back-spin" where i'd punch the bottom part of the ball so that it would hit the other guys square and spin back so he couldn't get it.  i know...PRO. :)

10- this memory is weird.  i can remember it like it was yesterday.  so one day i forced myself to not play 4-square the entire recess period after lunch so i could practice my "times-tables" since i had failed miserably the first time i had taken the test.  my thought process went something like this: "travis, who cares, go play." "no, i have to learn these stupid things." "but you can practice them while you wait in line after you go 'out'." "no, you'll never lose and never get to practice."  wow, what kind of 10 year old wrestles with himself about playing during recess??? 

11- who can forget the move to Minnesota in the middle of WINTER???  here's an embarassing moment for you...travis getting his shorts pulled down on the playground by JC...love ya buddy :)

12- 6th grade trip to the ELC where luke and i took a canoe ride and decided to explore one of the shorelines.  as luke is pulling the canoe out of the water enough so i can get out, the canoe crawls up the side of a rock and dumps me over the side.  lovely.

13- before it was determined to be "racist" our school used to have an auction for a certain group of seniors (i can't remember if it was a club or a sport or whatever) where they'd auction themselves off to be servants for a day.  usually at the end they'd ask anybody else to come up and volunteer to be auctioned off to raise more money.  i think it was jason p. or joey e. that convinced me to go do it.  seriously, who would bid on a goofy looking 7th grader to be their servant for a day???  apparently a gorgeous senior (who happened to be one of jess's friends).  i fully admit i had crushes on all of jess's friends.  i can't remember exactly how much money i raked in for the cause, but i know it was one of the highest. :)

14- ahhhh, the year i got my snowmobile.  on one such trip, my buddy tim and i had broken away from the trail a bit since the trail was following the powerlines.  i failed to see a minor "bump" in the road that was more like a launching pad and before i could slow down i was launched into the air hanging on for dear life.  fortunately i didn't die, but unfortunately i can't say that i landed it, either.  so there goes travis, chasing after his sled before it runs into some trees.  afterwards my significant other at the time said i must have been pretty high because she looked over towards us and found herself staring up at the bottom of my sled.   could that be why i sheared off a couple of my suspension bolts the very next weekend???  :)

15- Freshman year...hmmmm...i remember coach conboy adding about 50 pounds to my weight for the football program because he "doesn't put anybody less than 150 pounds on his roster." :)

16- ok so travis decided to run a stop sign on his first drivers license test.  it goes without saying that i was pretty mad at myself....until i went back for my second try a week or so later and saw that there wasn't even a stop sign there!!!!  it was just a pole for a sign, but there wasn't a sign attached to it!!!  so my anger turned to the butch cop that failed me the first time...i still haven't forgiven her.  that's a whole week of my life that i was able to drive by myself that i will never get back.

17- ahhh junior year band trip.  for the sake of all those involved (myself included), incriminating evidence will not be revealed in order to protect the innocent :)

18- turning in my freedom in exchange for combat boots and 'seven basic responses': yes sir, no sir, no excuse sir, sir may i ask a question, sir may i make a statement, sir i do not understand, sir i do not know.  yes, i used that last response a LOT.

ok i think this post is getting long enough so we'll just call this "memory lane--part 1" and call it a night.  (you're probably saying to youself, please spare me part 2!!)   

Comments

[Miranda]

This is so much fun since i didn't know alot of these stories and we have been married 3 years!! :) I can't wait for me to come in the picture!! That should be intresting!! :) I can my own memory in there when i went to your graduation party and i got my FIRST hug from you i was on cloud nine the rest of the summer!! :)

[jessica]

you had me in tears here. from laughing and from nostalgia. you're right, life without little rog is just not the same. who would cross their eyes and look at you like they knew nothing about what you were saying?

the car/cliff thing, i think i've heard that so much that it's one of my "memories" too!

VA beach... don't you remember the neighbors chasing us with dead snakes and the guy who helped you guys move who took a dresser to the face going up the stairs? not pretty!

i think i may just need my own post. and i'm pretty sure none of my h.s. friends were gorgeous in real life, just your jr. high goggles!

[Kim]

hahahahahahaha.

i also have heard that car story about a million times, i think.

and the snowmobile story... one question... why were we snowmobiling with tim, anyway?!?? ahahaha.

ahh, good stuff.

[jenny]

hahaha! great memories!

hollie and i shared a simliar sled story - we were riding with nellie and conboy and well, pretty soon we were in the snow and my sled was about to go over a cliff - but it didn't. whew. i'd still be grounded.

you were the coolest 7th grader around dude. :)

[Jaime]

OMG.... The band trip!! OMG... are you referring to....... what I think you are referring to? I can't even remember that correctly but.... holy crap! Send me a reply confirming! hahahaha!! I'd have taken that to the grave had you not mentioned what I think you are mentioning!! LOL!!

I had also forgotten about the Senior Auction. That was probably the last year they allowed it!

I also had that butch tester from Two Harbors!! Same chick, right? And... I think I may have not done a complete stop at a red light, but, I still passed! hahahaha...

[Leah]

That was fun to read. I forgot about the auction as well. Yikes. At first I was thinking you were talking about the band trip to Chicago, but then realized that on your memory lane I would have been out of school by then.

[lib]

oh my gosh, i am just getting caught up and band trip....uh yeah, what the h were we thinking??????????????