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Things I Want To Remember | Part Eleven | Birthday Month

Writer McWriterson

I don’t want to forget these random thoughts that have been floating around in my head, so I’ve written them down in the notes section of my iPhone. I’m sharing them with you because I suspect they may be something that you can relate to as well.

Or not.

If you’re here for the first time, welcome! You’ll be able to find the other parts of this series here.

By the way, just by writing this monthly post, I’m remembering even more things from my past. This makes me extremely happy.

1- I was (and still am) obsessed with the TLC show A Baby Story. Only a few old episodes are available on YouTube. Please let me know where I can find all of the remaining old shows.

2- Does anyone remember the Saturday morning cartoon character Shmoo?

Source

3- When I was growing up, I loved to play pretend library with my friends. We would “check out” books by stamping them and putting their books into bags. I’m not sure why that memory came to mind, but it made me smile the other day. I thought I’d share it with you in the hopes that it brings back memories of your childhood play.

4- I also remember playing Barbies with my best friend until we were in junior high. It was our little secret because none of our other friends were playing with Barbies at that age. Wouldn’t it have been funny if our other friends had been playing with Barbies at that age but were too afraid to tell us? Isn’t it sad how many secrets we keep hidden from others for fear of being judged?

5- When I was in freshman or eighth grade (around that age), a group of my friends and I went to Wyandot Lake, an amusement park in Ohio that no longer exists. (I believe it is now a water park) Anyway, it rained the entire day, but that didn’t stop us. The park remained open, but we were among the few visitors.

We ended up going on a rollercoaster at the park, and the ride operator allowed us to ride over and over without stopping at the station because no one else was waiting. This was pure joy for eight teenage girls who loved amusement parks. It’s possible that we all agreed that this was the “best day of our lives.”

I looked it up, and here is the ride:

6- Speaking of amusement parks, Cedar Point was my childhood favorite. Here are my three favorite rides from the 1980s:

Demon Drop

Gemini

Corkscrew

7 -Many years ago, we took Ella to a Bruce Hornsby concert at Summerfest in Milwaukee. It was an open-air concert with no paid seating at this venue, so having her there wasn’t a big deal. However, we were in the second row from the stage, and she quickly fell asleep to the sounds of Mandolin Rain. 

🖤

8- A little-known fact is that before breaking out on his own, Bruce Hornsby worked as a backup singer and pianist for Sheena Easton. Please accept my apologies for my music nerd trivia. I mean, if you know who I am you know…

That’s just the way it is. Some things will never change.

40 thoughts on “Things I Want To Remember | Part Eleven | Birthday Month”

  1. I too have memories of playing barbies well beyond an acceptable age according to my peers. It might be why we’re so creative! I loved your memories and shares this week especially the joy of exploring an amusement park with your best friends. May that be what this life is. Hugs, C

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    1. Cheryl, that is an excellent theory! My friend, now that I think about it, was also very creative. Wow. I love this. 

      I’m glad I brought you all along with us that day. This week, I’ve been reliving that day over and over.

      “May that be what this life is.” Yes. ❤️

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  3. I made Jesse take me to Cedar Point on our honeymoon. Demon Drop brings back so many memories.

    I also played Barbies into middle school, but it was a secret I kept to myself. It helped that I had a sister 4 years younger than me to play with (and she totally got the blame/credit for me continuing to play).

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    1. I love that you went there for your honeymoon!!! I watched the Demon Drop video far too many times. It’s no longer there, which makes me sad. Thank goodness someone captured high-quality video.

      Thank goodness for little sisters. 💕

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  4. I have so many Cedar Point memories! I was working between college and grad school and a co-worker and I went to CP and I had such a good time teaching her how to do an amusement park frugally. Go into a restaurant and just ask for a glass of water! Pack a cooler with lunch! We were SO exhausted, but we must have ridden the Mean Streak at least a dozen times.

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    1. The Mean Streak! That was probably opened the year I moved to Illinois. The Magnum was also new when I moved here that summer. I remember waiting in a horribly long line with my then-boyfriend and becoming terrified as the rollercoaster continued to go up, up, up that first hill!

      I love your suggestions for visiting an amusement park on a budget! My mother and grandmother used to pack a picnic lunch for all of us and we would leave it at the front picnic area to eat later! I still can’t believe how trusting we were all back then…

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  6. Oh I used to LOVE a Baby Story and I really enjoyed A Wedding Story too. I had a HUGE collection of barbies and played with them for far longer than most others my age (that I’m aware of!).

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    1. The Wedding Story! Yes, that was a favorite of mine as well! I’d like to know where the couples are now and what those babies are doing. They are now in their late twenties!

      I had a lot of fun dressing up Barbies. It was a lot of fun to escape from reality.

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  8. Oh my goodness, that amusement park story is amazing! What a joy! And I played with Barbies for a lot longer than my friends did (or perhaps they were sneaking around playing Barbies in secret too!).

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  9. Kari, I’m not familiar with A Baby Story, but will definitely look into it because I love anything to do with babies. I adore them!

    ” When I was growing up, I loved to play pretend library with my friends. We would “check out” books by stamping them and putting their books into bags.”

    OH MY GOD, meeeeeeeeeeeee too! I even had a special rubber date stamp that I got at Grants department store. I also used to play “cashier” because I actually had a real cash register (from my father’s business) that I would use to ring up purchases that my brother and cousins would bring up to my fake cash wrap station in our playroom. I even used play money (bills and coins) that they could pay with. That’s how I learned how to give change. So much fun!

    My sister had Barbie’s and I had a GI Joe doll, remember him?

    I don’t do rollercoasters. I did (very few) when I was a kid, but they scared the shit out me. I’ve been on space mountain in Disney, but it was traumatic. LOL! I tell everyone that I’ll hold their coats while they’re on the rollercoasters, but I won’t go on them.

    That Mandolin Rain video by Bruce Hornsby fantastic. In fact, I bookmarked to listen to again and again.

    Once again, Kari, I thoroughly enjoy these posts. Thank you, my friend! X

    P.S. that photo of Ella asleep in the sunlight is beautiful!

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    1. It was a fantastic storytelling show about pregnancy and birth. The majority of the couples were from the East Coast, so if you find it, it would make an excellent birthday present!

      I love how we both pretended to be librarians!! We also played cashiers! We had an old rotary phone in our basement that we used to call other departments! OMG, how much fun we had…I love how you learned how to make change while pretending. That is amazing.💕

      GI JOE! Yes! He even had a real hair beard, which was very cool. You’re bringing back so many happy memories for me today.

      I didn’t ride a rollercoaster until eighth grade. I finally went on one with the same group of friends at a different theme park (we had FOUR theme parks in Ohio…that is insane to me), and my one friend held my hand the entire time and all of them cheered me on when we got off. I miss those girls.

      RON, I can’t believe you went on Space Mountain! That is the WORST rollercoaster! That one even bothered me. 🤣

      He is, in my opinion, one of the most underappreciated musicians of our time. It’s a lovely rendition.

      Aww, thank you friend. I appreciate you.

      I love that photo too. 💕

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  10. Was Gemini the kind of coaster that shook the hell out of you, corkscrew looked cool, but the return to the station seemed extra slow i almost thought the car was gonna go backwards…and who can forget the Schmoo 😁

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    1. Gemini was a steel and wooden coaster, so it was much smoother than a typical wooden coaster. It also raced another coaster on the track next to it, which made it a lot more fun when you went with a group of people. The corkscrew appears almost lame in comparison to today’s coasters, but it was a lot of fun back then.

      SHMOOOOO. That was my favorite cartoon. ❤️

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  11. I love roller coasters and I remember a similar occasion when there was no one at the local amusement park, and the operator let us go more than once. So fun.
    I do remember Shmoo, but vaguely. I definitely remember playing Barbies in grade six when we were supposedly “too old.” I don’t remember playing library, but I do remember playing store, and school, of course.
    Bruce Hornsby! Love.

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  12. Omg Pretend Library! Yes! We played that too! How did I forget this? We had a date stamp & oooo the satisfaction of stamping our check-out “cards”…

    This memory sparked so many others… like making Newsletters with my friends. And how one friend & I had lil miniature animals (about 1” tall) who had their own newsletters (mini versions of our ours), exchanged letters, went on sleep-overs…. gah we made a whole world for those lil guys. Even summer camp! 😊

    Thank you for reminding me!

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    1. Yes! I can’t believe I remembered that! I was picking up books at the library one day when it came to me!

      I love the fact that you created newsletters for your miniature animals! The more I learn about each of you, the more I realize we would have been friends as children, which makes me so happy. 💕

      You’re very welcome! I hope it brings back other happy memories for you, and if it does, please come back and write them down!

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  13. I do not remember that TLC show or Shmoo, but I wish I did. I used to watch 90 Day Fiance when it first started, but then it started to be fake, where I didn’t believe that the engaged couple were real. Such a bummer, because it was a very intriguing show when it began.

    When I was growing up, we had a Bookmobile that came to our neighborhood and I think that inspired us to play a pretend library of sorts. What I really remember playing was hotel. I was obsessed with the customer satisfaction cards that the chains had in the hotel rooms, so I would make my own and would play hotel with my brother and my bff, which was mostly check in and check out. We were a weird little trio!

    My son and his wife went to the Wyandot waterpark a few times when they lived in Columbus. They thought it was really fun. Would you believe that when I was growing up, we never once went to Cedar Point?? I didn’t go until I was dating my spouse. Our family always went to Geauga Lake (which was next to Sea World, if you remember that?) We sometimes went to amusement parks on vacations, like Kings Island. I also remember going to one called Great America (?) that was outside of Chicago. Is it still there?

    I hope your Birthday Month is going well!

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    1. I agree with you. I used to love TLC, but their shows have become so sensational that it’s sad.

      Oh, I love that you had a Bookmobile! We never had one, but seeing them on occasion was always exciting. I love how you played hotel! I would have loved to be a part of your weird trio. ❤️

      We also went to Geauga Lake! My first rollercoaster ride took place at Geauga Lake. Such good memories there.

      Great America is still here! We’re not too far away from it! It’s not as good as Cedar Point, though.❤️

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  14. That photo of Ella. Makes me miss my babies being babies. I think you might be onto something with stealth Barbie playing, with so many people here confessing to playing with them secretly. I was not a big Barbie person, probably because my mother refused to buy them. I just love, more than I can express, that my young, Catholic, suburban, stay-at-home mom in the early 70’s would not buy me Barbies because she didn’t want me to think that’s how women had to be. I do remember the last time I ever played with one, though (my friends had them, and I often suggested that we play with them). My friend and I were in 6th grade, and we were making a naked Barbie and Ken have sex in the driveway when her slightly older (he was in JUNIOR HIGH) and very cute neighbor snuck up behind us and asked, “What are you doing?” with a big smirk. We stammered something obviously not true and he just laughed. We were mortified. And we never played with the Barbies again.

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    1. I’ve looked at that picture a lot since I added it to this post. I also miss them when they were younger.

      Your mother was way ahead of her time. That makes me happy. I’m sure many women felt this way deep down as well.

      Side note- My best friend had a porcelain or ceramic Barbie doll instead of a plastic one. I believe she was from the 50s or 60s. It was so much fun to be able to play with her. That memory came to mind as I was typing this comment, and I was inspired to write it down so I wouldn’t forget it.❤️

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  15. I remember Shmoo. I also really enjoyed a baby story. I used to watch it during nap time when I nannied for the lady who anchored the NBC news in Chicago.

    You and I are total opposites when it comes to music knowledge. I’m clueless and you know all the stuff.

    I played with baby dolls behind closed doors in my bedroom through 8th grade. As if my countless hours of babysitting wasn’t enough. I was baby obsessed. Obviously not something I outgrew. 😉

    The rainy day in the amusement park sounds epic.

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  16. I don’t remember A Baby Story or Shmoo! OK, I would totally watch A Baby Story now and relive those days. Sigh.

    I have so many good memories of childhood play. We played “house” and “vet”. And Barbies…OMG, me and my best friend played with them constantly. Like you, until we were in Jr High. We played outside a lot…riding bikes, roller skating, baseball in the back yards, Four Square, Hide and Seek, making up our own little “Olympics” for all the neighborhood kids.

    I was never into amusement parks; at least not the rides. Scared of them! But I did like hanging out there with my friends.

    Love the picture of Ella. So sweet. Did not know Bruce Hornsby was the backup singer and pianist for Sheena Easton!

    xoxo

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  17. I love your nerdy music trivia and your sweet memories of childhood. I wasn’t into Barbies back then, but I don’t hate them now. 😜 That’s just the way it is.
    Ella sleeping at a concert: SO CUTE.
    I don’t know who Shmoo is, but he looks friendly enough.

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