Red Ked’s. Tan strappy sandals with a slight wedge. Hula Hoops. Bicycles. Roller skating in our mobile home park.
A red frisbee that came with rolls of fruit flavored Lifesavors inside of it.  Jump roping. Jump Roping for Life. Striped gum. Hot, sticky summer days with the smell of newly cut grasses.  Camping in the Redwoods

 and camping at Deerlick where I fed deer from the palm of my hand.  Rolling down a steep hill at Deerlick scrapping my knees, shins, elbows and chin up. The smell of sulfur water cleansing those boo-boos.  Going to Old Sacramento and trying to eat huge jawbreakers that wouldn’t fit in my mouth.  Singing along with Sandi Patty in my bedroom or in the living room. Singing on stage in church.  Sitting with my dad talking for hours about the Bible. Vacation Bible School in the Castillo’s back yard.  Swimming, hiking, wading creeks and rivers. Sitting on the couch, snuggled under the afghan my Aunt Fay made me reading “Little House” books and “Nancy Drew” while the rain pelted the tin roof of our mobile home over my head.  Sitting around the campfire in the woods, sparks shooting into the cool night air while daddy played the guitar and we would roast marshmallows and sing songs together.

 Writing poetry.  Swinging upside down on the monkey bars; swinging high as a kite on a swing set at school then laying my head back to “float” through the air.  Pretending to be Wonder Woman.  Drawing, coloring, making toilet paper rolls into pencil holders out of scraps of cloth and giving them away to others (which to their credit they graciously accepted).  Listening to music on the record player. Pretending to lead children’s choirs while listening to children’s albums. Bubble Gum ice cream from Brock’s Ice Cream shop – – we’d pick all of the gum balls out first then eat the ice cream and save the gum to eat later.  Learning to play guitar with Pastor Irving. He was soooo tall and I was soooo small! Mr. Vaughan’s 4th, 5th, 6th grade classes all in one room. Playing with our dog Fluffy.

Christmas. I loved Christmas and still do! We got up in the wee hours of the morning to open our stockings and play with the gifts left open for us under the tree until dad and mom got up to open the rest. I would start listening to Christmas music in September!

These are all random (not in any particular order), fun memories from my childhood.  Every time I see the red Ked’s in a store I smile and think, “I want a pair of those!”   They remind me of my childhood.  Which is what started me down this happy, go-lucky road. Sometimes I think we don’t dwell enough on the happy parts of our lives. We live in the memories that are dark, hurtful, painful and we forget that there have been happy days at all. We tend to let the bad overcome the good.  BUT (there’s that word again ☺ ) God’s Word tells us, “A merry heart does good like a medicine” Proverbs 17:22.  And just like Mary Poppins sings, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!”  I think God intends us to go to the fun times as medicine for our hearts.  Medicine is good for us because it helps us heal from illness and when we take the right kind for our disease, we become happy as we get better.  I think God wants us to remember the happy days in our lives.

Have you had your happy break lately? When was the last time your heart was made merry and you laughed just because you thought of something joyful?  I’d love to hear a happy, fun, silly memory from you.   ~Love, Marcie

The following song is just another fun memory all about being happy! Loved this album!