When I Was Ten

 Earlier this week I received an e-mail from my cousin Christy. She was updating what had been going on in her family for the last few months. We do keep in some contact however she wants to do more of the same on a regular basis.

Three years ago I spent time with Christy and her husband David down in her part-time home in Arizona during spring training. I spent a week there and we went to four Seattle Mariner spring training games along with going to my first hockey game. It still sounds strange to think my first hockey game would be in Arizona. I really enjoyed seeing the game though I do not really watch the games on television. I do know that the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup and that there were no Canadian teams in the play offs either.

Ok this all takes me back to when I was ten years old. That year Christy who was fifteen years old spent the summer with us in Gig Harbor. I don’t remember a lot of the details I do remember enjoying the time with one of my older cousins. Actually most of my first cousins are older than me. Christy came to watch over my two brothers and I that summer while mother was in Portland, Oregon taking classes at Lewis and Clark College. I am sure it was a challenge and learning experience for a teenager. The time in Gig Harbor I am sure was much different for her than the time living in Vancouver, British Columbia. We lived on the waterfront on the east side of Gig Harbor so you could look over and see the town of Gig Harbor. Though I don’t remember a lot of that year being ten I am sure she enjoyed taking us out on the boats along with swimming in the harbor and lying on our dock. We did not swim a lot in the harbor because the water was quite cold even during the summer. I am sure all three of us were a handful that summer especially me. When I was ten I liked talking a whole lot may be even more than I do now. I am sure there are those who may question that. For this turned out to be training for Christy because later on she had three boys of her own. I am sure at times over the years she has thought about our time together when she was raising those boys. Now she has her first grandchild who is seven months old and is a girl. I am sure she is a delight for them. They do not live close so they talk and see each other on facetime a lot.

I do remember one day during that summer when walking along the main road that goes past our house we found some cigarettes. It was interesting because the place we found them the house had burned down and we found them in the fire place that was still there. At least that is what I recall anyway. It was the first time I decided to try smoking a cigarette. By the way I don’t smoke. When I offered my younger brother a cigarette he totally refused because he thought the one cigarette would cause him cancer and he would die. I guess you could say that is the thinking of a seven year old. So I have to say he never has had a cigarette his whole life.

So you see not a lot of memories but good ones anyway. I look forward to reading more e-mails from Christy. I could ask her to fill in some of the memories of being ten. A very good thought for sure. This way I can update at a later time.