Pauls earlies memories

My Wonderful Earliest Memories

In Springville, there was a forest behind the apartment building. When I was about five years of age they tore it down to make a duplex. My friend moved into the abandoned house up the road. His name was Jake. His brothers’ and sisters’ names were Jeremy, Josh, Bambi, and Maggot. I cannot remember her real name. She liked being called Maggot. There was a plowed field across the street where we played baseball. We did not know if it was safe to play there because we were yelled at once. In the same field there was the old man’s barn. We went into barn once and we were scared and we ran out.

There was another experience that Jake and I had, when we were Kindergartners. There was a field down the street from Jake’s house. We had built a fort and we found some matches. We decided to burn some cardboard. That was a huge mistake. We tried to put it out with dirt. It spread to rapidly. We both ran to our homes. I told my mother and she called the fire department. That night I received a punishment.

On part of my early childhood, I was afraid to go outside. There was some neighbor kids who would chase me. They didn’t like what I said so they would chase me up the tree. They moved shortly after. They had the chicken pox many times they said. I said, “You could have it only once.”

We lived at the bottom of the hill. To go to the library, we made a trip up that great hill. I visited the great hill recently, it is not as big as I thought it was. Our school was the best. Hardy’s had just been built on Main Street. If you were good you could go to Hardy’s with the principle and miss school to eat lunch. I had the chance to do that once. It was great. I remember walking to Westside Elementary, everyday. The snow was mid-thigh height in the winter because of the lake affect from Utah Lake. Whenever we got a ride from our mother we were late. We weren’t late too often.

The streets were very wide. In the summer, John and I picked up many balls of tar from the road. It was easy to pick the tar up. It was great when the cousin Peterson’s came over. We made homemade ice cream when they came over. All of the supplies where in the shed in the far back. That is where our shop was. That is also where John fell off the top shelf and broke his arm. The lumber yard behind the sheds, and across the fence. We were not permitted to go over there. If we did go over there we didn’t stay long.

In Pleasant Grove I remember no one could find our house. The best part of that house was the great big back yard. Those small trees were very fun to hang on. I wish they hadn’t be torn down so soon. There was a gap in the fence where kids would go to the canal. My dad had greased up the poles and barbed wired the poles closed. There was enough room for me to squeeze through.

In the winter time, we followed the deer tracks around the back yard. In the spring we found there had been a little deer foot stuck in the fence. We looked down and there it was, the animal carcase. That was really sad. One other thing I remember about the backyard was that the yard kept on getting larger, and getting smaller at the same time. The grass portion was growing larger due to my dad. He planted seed there, it was great to play football on. The garden area was getting smaller. Now the portions of the ground are both enormously large.

The home in Orem is the best. We don’t live at the bottom or the top of the hill. We live behind Allen’s Supermarket.