Coursera exercise

"Choose a historical event of at least national significance that occurred during your childhood. What social and cultural conditions were directly impacting you and your family at that time? Without placing too much emphasis on the event, write two or three paragraphs about your life at that moment."

The first historical event that comes to mind is the Gulf War. As my father was in the Navy, this even impacted my life directly. My father was deployed to Bahrain, though I don't have very many memories of him not being present.

One of my memories is playing outside with a neighbor friend, maybe on a slip and slide?, while we sang a song about Saddam Hussein.

Get him, get him, get him, get him!
Got him, got him, got him, got him!
Saddam Hussein!

Not the most creative song, but hey, we were six years old.

When I was a junior in high school, I wrote my final paper on the Desert Shield & Desert Storm conflict. I remember that there was a selection of topics that that we were able to pick from. I believe that only one person could write about each topic, and I really wanted to write about the Gulf War. After all, I had the best source in my father! I got to school extra early that day and raced to Mr. Gaines' classroom to claim the topic. I loved interviewing my father for that assignment and hearing his stories. I still have that paper stashed away somewhere. 

Back to 1990. We lived in Guam at the time. I was the same age that my son is now. I remember random little details about my time from Guam.

I remember seeing a praying mantis at school. I remember being a star in the Christmas play. I remember my second grade teacher, Miss Kramer. She had recently gotten engaged. Also, I wet myself during class. I learned too late that it was okay to go in an emergency. I have always been a rule follower and I was waiting for her to call on my raised hand.  I got these cute Minnie Mouse undies from the nurse and I was so bummed when we had to return them (after we cleaned them, of course). Another time I saw the nurse, I had gotten a bloody nose on the playground. I don't remember what had happened. I remember wearing a great skirt and matching top. And some big kid in the hallway said, "Woah!" when he saw me.

I remember the Rube-Goldberg machine with basketballs and billiard balls in the Micronesia Mall. I think I had a Happy Meal from there. I remember getting a Petunia Pig toy.

I remember the palm trees growing in our backyard. I remember sitting at the computer playing a game one night while my mom watched Dolly Parton sing. I remember that we lived on a cul-de-sac and I played with the neighbor kids. I remember eating fried minnows next door, I think during some kind of party. 

Oh, I also remember some of our island adventures. Going to Gab Gab Beach. Going out on the inflatable raft and seeing sea urchins and sea cucumbers on the ocean floor through crystal clear water. I remember taking some dirt road. There was a military gate and Dad told us all lay in the bed of the truck and put a blanket over us. We weren't actually being sneaky, but us little ones thought we were! I remember swimming out to some cave or something. Dad had to swim us across one by one. 

I find it so weird that I have no real memory of my dad's absence. As a mother of a six and four year old, I'm certain that it was a strain on my mother at the time.

Okay. Wellllll.... kind of got sidetracked. That was definitely more than two or three paragraphs! I don't know that what I wrote was what the instructor intended, but it was a lot of fun for me to think back about the things I remembered about Guam.

I think that I'm going to follow along with this full course, but I will complete the exercises with my own bloggy twist. Memoir writing that is a bit rambly. I'm not writing a book, after all; I'm writing for me.