Do you have a memory from your childhood that you can absolutely never forget? Over the last couple of days, I have been finding myself thinking about a family vacation trip to the Southwest. It was in the late 80's - I think I was 10 or 11 years old, maybe 12. Our parents wanted my sister and I to meet our family in Texas and to spend a week in Arizona visiting our Great-Aunt Shirley. Back in the 80's - this trip from NE Ohio to the Southwest took like 3 or 4 days. Our travels took us through Missouri where we drove past the great St. Louis Arch....through Oklahoma where we stopped in Oklahoma City and visited the American Softball Association (ASA) Hall of Fame and got to see the construction site of what later became the home field of the Women's USA Softball Team. Then on through New Mexico - we stayed at a little Best Western Hotel in Truth or Consequences, NM. A small desert town that if you blinked you would miss it. I think Truth or Consequences has grown quite a bit since then, but I can truly say I remember the days when it was a "no where" town in the Southwest part of New Mexico.
Truth or Consequences, NM
But this story isn't about this beautiful, quaint desert town. It's a story about our trip through New Mexico. As we drove through the southern quadrant of the Rocky Mountains. Beautiful scenery with majestic mountains as the backdrop. It was either sunrise or sunset (I have never seen a more breathtaking and utterly artistic sunrise/sunset as I witnessed in the desert of New Mexico. ) This is a story about how one thing you say - can live with you FOREVER. 25 years later, I still laugh when I think about it. It's not what I said - it's what my older sister said. As we are driving through the mountains - looking at this beautiful sky - my sister proclaims "Wow, that looks like a scene from one of those old western movies. The ones where the Indians are coming down attack the human beings."
Now, I know, I know - in today's PC world this is a racist comment - but for us - it was far from it. We laughed and laughed. You see, we are actually of Native American decent. We have great respect for our culture and our fellow Native Americans....but those words, coming out of the mouth of a teenage girl in the late 80's was simply priceless for us. It was almost as if she was saying the Native Americans were not human beings.
The greatest thing about that family vacation was that we were all together - mom, dad, me and my sister. Taking a road trip through the heart of the United States of America. I got to experience so many great things that trip. We stayed in Tucson, AZ for a week visiting our Aunt - that is when I fell in love with that beautiful border city. I still have dreams of going back there one day - may to live out the rest of my days - who knows what the future holds. This is the vacation that I first started to fall in love with genealogy and wanting to learn more and more about my ancestry and my family. I learned that family, above all else, is the most important thing next to my love and faith in a higher power.
This trip began shaping my life in more ways than my parents, or I, could have ever imagined. This is where I found my love for nature. My love for Mother Earth. A deeper respect and admiration of my Native American heritage. But mostly, thinking back, it reminds me of a simpler time in my life when all I knew was love, family and God.
What are your favorite childhood memories? Do you have a story to share?
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