Apparently Xanga has a new Featured Question um... feature.  I suppose it is designed for bad bloggers like me who never post.  Ironically, I was going to post something just now but I'll write about this instead.  How easily I am distracted.

I'm not sure if I can pinpoint a "favorite" childhood memory, but I figured I could at least share with you what my childhood was like.  I was born in Florida and lived there until I was five.  When I was in kindergarten my family moved to PA, and I've been here for the past twenty years.  The earliest years of my childhood were the strangest, so I'll just stick with those.

Here's what I remember most about living in Florida:  my dog, never wearing shoes, playing in the yard with minimal supervision, crab grass, a honeysuckle bush, and Disney World.  I grew up in Melbourne, which is on the east coast about 45 minutes south of Orlando.  Before I was born my parents owned a doberman pinscher (who had a Great Dane grandfather) named Schwartz.  That dog was my constant companion until I was 8 years old.  When my family tells stories about Little Hannah, Schwartz is almost always featured prominently.  And I remember playing with her more than any children.  That probably explains why I was such a strange, strange child.

I'm sure that this will not come as any sort of surprise, but I had something of a hyperactive imagination.  I enjoyed playing with dolls (Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Ponies, and Rainbow Brite especially) or imaginary friends.  As much as I loved Schwartz, she wasn't very good at talking to me.  So I talked to myself.  (I was never very interested in my younger brother.  My parents had promised me a sister, but didn't deliver on it -- pun intended.  I don't think I started really paying any attention to Jeremiah until we started playing WoW together.  Last year.)  I doubt this is 100% accurate, but I feel like I spent most of my time playing in my yard.  Not with any toys, mind you.  I was content to pick the bark off of our paper birch, gather plant parts for "cooking", and talk to my dog and myself.  One day when I was peeling bark off of the birch I found a cockroach.  That was the end of that pastime.  I had no qualms about catching the lizards I'd find on our chainlink fence.  In fact, my father even took to calling me Lizzie Lizard.

I can also recall frequent trips to Disney World.  My family would stay at the campgrounds in our pop-up trailer.  Good god, how I hate that thing in retrospect.  The campground features sing-alongs and S'Mores.  I also remember Chip and Dale being there.  Of the parks, I can remember only somewhat.  A few months ago I posted the footage from the old Figment ride in EPCOT.  That is certainly my most vivid Disney memory.  I also remember my father training me to be the world's fiercest roller coaster enthusiast.  He used some strange trick of reverse psychology to get me to love them.  And I really did love roller coasters for a long time.  Now I'm old and enjoy them less because they mess with my equilibrium.  Anyway, for some people, going to Disney World is a huge deal.  For me, it was just about as standard as a trip to Piggly Wiggly.

I like being able to say that I grew up in the South, even if I have been a Yankee for most of my life.  Whenever I visit Florida, I can't help but see the flora and fauna (and various retail chains) that were unique to my childhood.  There really are a lot of differences between the North and the South, and I can't help but feel at home when I am in the latter.

What?  You want an actual memory?  Fine.  So, I can remember one day my mom told me we were going to go voting.  This was a new word for me, so I decided it was the same thing as boating.  (We had friends with a sailboat and went out on it fairly often.)  Imagine my surprise when we drove to the local elementary school to stand in a line.  We went into what looked like a dressing room, and my mom set to this voting thing.  I assumed that she was playing some sort of boating arcade game, because I still didn't see any boats.  Then I got yelled at for peeking under the partitions at the other "boaters."

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