I loved reading. And I had a trunk that was kept in my closet. I'd open the lid, have pillows and a blanket in there, and read in the trunk in my closet.

I remember wishing that I could close the lid and never need the world outside of my small safe one.

Some people might think it was graduating law school or passing the bar exam, but they are wrong. My favoite memory was getting accepted to Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey Clown College and then graduating from there as well. The year I was accepted they had over 5,000 applicants and accepted 50. I later toured with Clyde Beaty Cole Bros Circus but even that was nothing compared to Clown College. It was a truly magical experience and will be a part of me forever.

there is a picture of me when i was younger and first got my dog as a puppy. i am holding the dog and the look on my face is just pure happiness and excitement. i loved him so much.

I loved to read as well... Nancy Drew books and drink pink lemonade while eating sunflower seeds...lol

I always loved Christmas's as well.... The home was always a great place to be at Christmas... Turkey dinner, all decorated, Barbie dolls and no fear... Nice

Thanks for a great post Alice!!

My earliest favorites are:
1 Mom reading stories with me when I was 3, she'd help me figure out the words I didn't know, and she had a lovely musical voice
2. Mom and I made a lemon meringue pie together when I was about five. It turned out *perfect* and was the first time she let me help bake something that "fancy". It looked and smelled sooooo goood. So we ate it. The two of us. The whoel thing. My dad and sis came back from wherever they'd been that whole day, and never even knew the pie existed, LOL.

My best, however? Yesterday, Hubby just suddenly hugged me, with tears in his eyes, and said, "I love you so much," right before we saw my mom for the weekly visit.

That's what I got.

Great post, Alice!

There's actually a lot on my personal 'best of' list, here's a few examples:
1. Seeing my sister for the first time. She had jaundice as a newborn so her skin was bright orange, like a carrot. I spent at least 15 minutes just laughing in surprise, then I declared that she was the coolest baby ever.
2. Snorkelling with wild manta rays. Three of them, all about 7m big and I got really close, maybe one and a half metres. There are no words to really describe this.
3. Riding the open load area of a lorry during a category 1 hurricane.

thank you for this thread. i am actually going to have to sort through so many good memories to figure out which one(s) to share lol i tend to guard them jealously so other people can't ruin them. also some might not be PG13 enough for our viewing audience *giggle*

First thought, my kids being born was the most exhilarating for me, so sweet and innocent.

The other memory is I used to trail run at 5:00am with two other girls and we had about 5 dogs. It got us all home by 7:30 to get the kids ready for school then work.

We were the only crazy ones that would get up at 4:00 grab a bite and then drive with our dogs and meet in a dark parking lot. All year around with snow up to our knees. We of course had serious head lamps we ordered from Switzerland.

The peace and quiet was amazing and then when spring came, we would start off in the dark and suddenly the forest would come alive with the sunrise, the owls & rabbits...it was just magical.

Patti -- what kinds of things do you enjoy reading? Do you have a favorite genre or author?

Atec -- That is really impressive! I have never been to a circus before but I do know someone who did silks for Sirque du Soleil; I know how competitive their program was, so I can only imagine how much skill and talent you must have had to be accepted!

Lilac -- what kind of dog was your puppy?

Sun -- do you have a favorite decoration that comes to mind when you think about those Christmases?

Leo -- I absolutely love your pie story! I can't eat citrus but I hear they are delicious. :) Are they difficult to make?

Neo -- How much older are you than your sister (may I ask)? Swimming with wild manta rays sounds amazing! I wish I lived in an area where I could go do something like that. :) Also.. what is a lorry?

Dark -- I hear you and I both understand and respect your decision to want to hold your good memories close. I have a few NSFW favorite memories myself, so I understand that aspect too.

Muskoka -- how many children do you have (if you feel comfortable answering)? The forest coming alive sounds magical! I think there is really something to be said for watching sunsets and sunrises. :)

I'm 6 3/4 years older than my sister. Well, she's actually my half-sister, but she ives in the same city so we see each other regularly and we get along really well.
A lorry is like a truck. The one I was on was a really old one, that thing happened in Cuba (beautiful country, I hope I'll have the opportunity to go there again one day).

As a child hiding in the long grass under the old peach tree with my favourite cat and where no one could find me and drag me back into the mayhem. I believe that cat will be waiting to meet me when I die. :)

my memories of mexico (the only tropical place i have ever been) are the best. i remember the exact way i felt when i was there. i believe i have a thing for extremely bumpy stucco because of that. our entire hotel was that way. i loved getting up in the morning early there and going to the outside cabana. there was one guy who worked there everyday and once he knew me had my coffee ready and i would walk the garden and then sit on the patio. at night , every night, i would sit out on the large white patio in the chairs right at the sands edge listening to the waves crash up against the beach. the feeling i had when i was there is with me whenever i think of it.

Patti, I used to hide and read too, and I usually hid out in my closet too, way back in there with pillows all squished up cozy, but mainly so they couldn't find me. I slept like that too, hidden like that. they still make jokes about it how funny it was when we were kids and nobody could ever find me when we were sleeping, I don't think it is very funny, but yeah, I hid out and read a lot too : )

I climbed trees and fell asleep too. I was forever finding new and unusual sleeping spots. these are things I remember, sleeping with my horse and being so comfortable, feeling safe and good there. that is a good memory : )

My favorite memory is saying prayers 28th my mom and sister. We said prayers together every night. Then as soon as my mom left my sister would come crawl in bed with me. We would just laugh and be silly or talk to each other until we went to sleep. My mom always I knew we slept in the same bed together but she always started us out i, our own bed. Until I was 5 I never slept without her. Our CC would let us crawl in bed with her and my papa Jack too.

My mother always knew where I was. It was more wishful thinking than anything else. I'd have slept and lived in that trunk if I'd have been allowed.

As for what I read, as a kid it was Nancy Drew. Later...everything. Boxes and boxes of romance novels, everything from Harlequin to Daniel Steel. Mysteries, spy novels, Westerns, Science fiction and Classic literature are my favorites.

I figured the classics out in high school, when I realized that I loved ALL books except whatever I had to read for school...which I would hate. So I read the reading list for the next year ahead of time and discovered that...they're really really good books! Dickens, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Paradise Lost, Lost Horizon's, Shakespeare (funny as all get out), Watership Down, The Uplift Wars, Ender's Game series, Man Kzin Wars, I Claudius (awesome book), Kurt Vonnegut, All Quiet on the Western Front, the Scarlet Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dean Koontz, Johnathan Kellerman.