Aahh...memories

My siblings and I (left to right, back row then front): Chris, Jenny, Me, Aubrey, Justin & Jon. I was about 8 years old.

I shared a bedroom with both of my sisters at different times while growing up. Until I was about 6, my sister Jenny (3 years my elder) and I shared not only a bedroom, but a bed. Unfortunately for her, I was a bed-wetter! Ha ha. She used to draw an imaginary line in the middle (well, she said it was the middle) of the bed and threaten that I better not cross it. There were also nights when we would stay up giggling, like little girls do. We remember our dad yelling down the hall at us to be quiet and go to bed. Although I'm sure it was annoying to our parents, we were busy making memories. Jenny also told me that if I'd rub her back for five minutes, she'd rub mine for five minutes. When I was done rubbing her back for five minutes, she'd rub mine for a significantly shorter time. When I complained, her response was that it only seemed shorter than five minutes because she was the one doing the rubbing! We also used to eat saltine crackers in bed and when we both got crumbs in the bed she got mad at me for getting crumbs in our bed.

When I was six, we moved to a new house, where we had a much larger bedroom (thank goodness we weren't as cramped as some kids are) and we got matching canopy beds with matching comforters. Those 4-posted beds were awesome for dancing! They supported our bodies as we swung from the bed to the floor...until we broke them. And the tops of the posts came off and made great microphones! And then there was the bedroom cleaning. Usually we had to rearrange the room in order to have enough motivation to clean it. Except for when Jenny would block the door and not let me out until I cleaned it. I am not making this up. I guess I should thank her for helping to develop my cleaning skills.

I don't remember exactly how I came to share a room with Aubrey (7 years younger than me), but I suspect Jenny and I had had enough of each other and insisted on a change. And so I moved upstairs into the tiny, red-carpeted room with Aubrey. My memories with her include sleeping on a trundle bed that needed to be rolled under her day bed every day. I also remember playing dolls and little people, which I was probably pretty old to still be playing with - but I liked it.

At some point I was allowed to move into the not-really-a-bedroom-at-all bedroom in the basement. It was a section of the family room that was closed off with one wall and a make-shift wall made of floor-to-ceiling bookcases. The doorway was made with a curtain. No window, no closet and no door - but it was my own space. I think I was around 12 years old at this point. I got an awesome Sauder desk for Christmas that year and enjoyed being able to keep my bedroom clean and not have my sisters messing it up! I put my clothes on the shelves that made my wall. I remember just laying on my bed, happy to be in my own bedroom.

My next bedroom at home was the big bedroom in the basement that Jenny and I had previously shared. Chris and I shared it for just a short while before Chris went on his mission. I have no idea how this came to be, but the two of us got along fine and just used the attached basement for privacy. I do remember that our bedroom smelled like boy, though.

My last bedroom before I moved to Utah State was upstairs in the green-carpeted room. I loved the daylight that came through the big window there! And my mom would vacuum my room as long as I kept it clean (I valued a clean & vacuumed room). I don't remember how long I was in that room - probably a couple of years.

Well, this is more than most people care to know, I'm sure, but once I got started it seemed like I should finish the chronology.