A Blast from Halloween Past

the cat family, circa 1979

The Stuff of Life

In the Freshman Comp I class I am teaching right now, I gave the students this assignment:

"Write an essay that captures a moment in your childhood that symbolizes for you, the essence of childhood. Tell the story of this chosen moment, selecting events and details that will clearly communicate to your reader the specific details of this sliver of time."

The results are astounding. Intriguing. Familiar. Heartbreaking. Touching. Nostalgic. I wish I could bind them all into a big book: Childhood Crystalized.

The narrations fall into one of these categories:

*Practical jokes gone wrong (locking little brother in the shed in 95 degree weather)
*Moments of fright or danger (falling from a tree, remembering the moment JFK was shot)
*A loss (dog hit by car, accidentally shooting a bluebird)
*A moment of victory (hitting the game winning shot)

But by far, most of the assignments focus on one thing:
the ordinary, seemingly insignificant moments of life.

*planting watermelons in the garden with Grandpa
*fishing at the pond with a friend
*cooking pie with Mom
*kicking an old bottle around on the street with neigbors
*walking to school in the snow
*going with Grandpa to the nursing home to visit Grandma
*riding bikes in the park with Dad
*riding in the backseat of the car with mom at the wheel

This is the stuff of life. And it's the stuff that my kids are going to remember. The everyday, ordinary moments. I want to appreciate the moments more, and hurry them less. I want to breathe them in and get less frustrated by them. I want to remember that I am writing memories into my kiddos everyday, every hour.

What is a moment in your childhood that you still remember? A moment that kind of sums up childhood for you?

Me? It's riding go-karts with my sister in the pasture, the sweet smell of dirt and hay in my nostirls. Chasing each other dangerously around the lake, the sound of cows and birds constantly in the background. Billowing clouds. Bugs crunching. The occasional sight of a snake. Feeling free, being loved. That is the stuff of my life.

Anything To Get The Focus Off That Last Post

I have been mortified all day. I confessed my embarrassing moments on the World Wide Web, and now I am cringing. So, moving on.....here's something kind of funny....6 grown women dressed in the fashions of our teenage years. We had a ball with it, looking through old pics and cracking up at some of the old 80's styles like.... (remember any of these?)

shoulder pads

HUGE hair

tulip rings

Laura Ashley dresses

puffy sleeves

Acid Dyed Jeans

Banana Clips

Jelly Shoes

Sailor Dresses

Swatches

Friendship Pin Bracelets

Neon color clothes

Big Plastic Earrings

The Madonna Look

Worry Doll Hairclips

Izods

Layered shirts

Leggings

We laughed and reminisced for a long time. But it all had a purpose. We are using a study called Secret Keeper Girls with our daughters this summer to try to teach them a little about how to be the girls God made them to be, and this was Date #5. After poking fun at old fashions, I spent some time with the girls talking about fashion and how fashion is not bad, it's fun! However, girls must pay attention to how they are presenting themselves through what they wear. It gave me the chance to talk with them about wearing clothes that present the right message of who they are. And just because other people are wearing it, doesn't mean it's OK for you! I am so glad I got the opportunity to speak to the girls about this, and doing this along with other moms and daughters helps them feel like they are not the only ones! Plus, I got the chance to don one of my favorite 80's fashions: the drop-waisted floral dress with shoulder pads embellished with large bows. Too bad I couldn't get the big hair going. I tried, but my hair just isn't quite the same as it was back in the good ole eighties.

Old Friends Are Like Gold

You know what they say, that old friends can just pick up where they left off. Well, for my college friend Kerry and I, picking up where we left off means laughing our way through dinner. Back in our OSU and post-OSU days, we just went at life enjoying the fun times kind of haphazardly. My mom always said Kerry and I were the "blind leading the blind," which now that I think of it kind of sounds like an insult, but we saw the humor in it, truly getting a kick out of whatever rolled our way. Fast forward 10 years. We've lived in different places for over a decade now. Our kids have met each other a handful of times and really don't KNOW each other. But after a night together at our house, I would say that they won't forget each other now. It was almost surreal to sit there and watch wild boys Luke and Brennon wrestling and breakdancing. (Kerry and I still can't figure out how these boys are learning to breakdance..?) It was refreshing to see Kami and Ellie and Payton have a ball cooking their own "recipe," cracking up together like old buds. I wouldn't have traded that time with those kids for anything. I'm so glad they got to know each other, and even though they're "new" friends, maybe someday they'll be able to share that special bond of being a "old" friend, just like Kerry and I.

Can It Really Be 20 Years?

Amazingly, the answer is yes. It has been 20 years since I graduated from Will Rogers High School. Here I am in 1987 at graduation along with my fellow Ropers. On either side of me are Kim and Linda, my 2 best friends in high school/college along with from left Kim's triplet, Chris, his now-wife Kelly, Stephen, Kim's other triplet Craig, and Trevin. My how young we all were! And now, just seemingly a few blinks later, here we are. Everyone in the above pic was able to attend the reunion, except Craig. Out of a class of about 390, we had 170, including spouses. To tell you the truth, the reunion was just a date on my calendar. I was neither looking forward to it, nor dreading it. However, it was a GREAT time. Everyone seemed so much more relaxed than the 10 year reunion and we laughed and had a BLAST from the PAST thinking back to the silly things we did 20 years ago.


We called ourselves LAK



He did a great job of trying to talk to people he's never met and has nothing in common with. After all, he's an Edison Eagle.







How much fun do you think these spouses are having?

Old friends Krista and Whitney on the left


Linda and I dancing to our class song "Lean on Me"
(when you're not strong; and you need a friend; I'll help you carry on; for it won't be long; till I'm gonna need; somebody to lean on) Those good old 80's songs!





Russell and Tim, the life of the party! Some things never change!

Memories of Marker Man

One year ago, (Jan 1 and Jan 31, 2006), Luke had a little too much fun with markers. I couldn't resist posting these pics. I think Luke had some remorse in the first picture, but in the 2nd, it looks like he's having a blast. Luckily, my sister was out of town and I was able to scrub the "Atomic Red" decorations off of Lauren's face and hands. Luke did learn that mom wasn't too happy when he went crazy with the marker, and turned over a new leaf. We haven't had any marker problems since.

A Snow Blast From the Past

Anne Marie Sisler and Kimberly Rae Sisler

Winter 1974 on the Farm

Halloween Through the Years

As I was putting away the Halloween decorations, I came across this baby picture of Kami. I just had to giggle when I saw it. I remember this crisp, clear day like it was yesterday. My first child and her first Halloween. I couldn't have been any more excited to be a new mom or proud of my little girl. Nana had found the perfect pumpkin suit and hat, we had carved a celebratory jack-o-lantern (that was the year Barry Hinson hired Tom on at ORU), and we propped the poor little girl, not even four months old, up against the pumpkin. I guess we were oblivious at the time that she wasn't enjoying it as much as we were. It's now pretty obvious by the look on her face. 8 years later, Kamryn Rae Hankins has grown into an absolute treasure. Here she is as a 50's girl. It's safe to say that she enjoyed dressing up for Halloween much more this year! (click on the picture to get a close up look of Kami at 4 months old.)

Memory Lane

This evening (before we caught the mole, see below), we went around town for Kami to take pictures for her school project on Tulsa. We drove by the river and stopped at this spot. The trees in the background were so beautiful, and the weather was crisp, and it was fun to tell the kids about the history of this place...... this is the exact spot where Tom proposed! So, 10 1/2 years later, here I was with our three beautiful children. God, we thank you for your blessings upon us!!!