What is your happiest childhood memory?

Mine is a day at my Grandparent's house when I was about 4. My parents and siblings were there, as well as a bunch of cousins, aunts and uncles. Gramma was making dinner in her huge kitchen, and I sat on her stepstool and watched her direct her daughters like she was running a commercial kitchen, only with lots of love in her voice. Then I went into Grampa's library, where he was sitting by the fireplace, Dad and a couple of Uncles were all reading, and I sat on Grampas footstool and was fascinated by the newspaper he was reading...it had no pictures or cartoons, just lots of small print. It was the Wall Street Journal, and he taught me about the stock market by giving me a piece of Wrigley's Spearmint gum, and told how we have stock in Wrigley, so when we buy it, it invests in the company, etc. Then, when dinner was ready, I sat in this huge booth Grampa had made so about 20 people could eat together, and they served "Nipfla", which is our family name for German spatzle noodles.

What is your happiest childhood memory?
When I was 2, my dad took me and my brother to drop something off to our grandma. While my dad was in the house, my bro and I were playing in the car, and I got behind the wheel, slipped it into gear, and starting driving. The thing was though, that the car was parked on a hill and started coasting down backwards. My bro jumped out and ran to get my dad. I remember seeing my dad leap over the porch railing and come sprinting down the street to catch up. He threw open the door and got in and hit the brakes just before the car went across some railroad tracks.


It was the best car ride of my life!