[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Let's define childhood as pre-age 16.

Here are mine.

1. Playing football at recess at Northside Elementary School in Rogers, Arkansas. Great group of friends, and the school let us play rough.

2. Getting an electric football game for Christmas in second grade, when we lived in Springfield. (But...Bears and Giants? What were you thinking, mom and dad?)

3. Being generally recognized and constantly stroked as a kid with high academic talent, highlighted by a barnstorming tour of classes to show off my reading ability in first grade.

4. Beating a 6-on-1 situation in bombardment in 9th grade to win the game.

5. Trip to the Smithsonian when I was 12. My parents asked where I wanted to go, and I said D.C., and I was surprised that they said yes. (It was the only out-of-state vacation the family took between my ages of 6 and 18.) The Smithsonian was my Mecca.

6. Going to the air-conditioned library in the summer, wandering around for a couple of hours looking at books, and then stocking up on books, including my favorite "Freddie the Pig" series.

7. Eating salted watermelon on hot summer nights with my cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents, especially at one particular house in Arkansas that we lived in.

8. Riding in the bread truck with my dad when I was 3 or 4. My mom made me a little Taystee bread shirt, complete with name patch, and I thought I was on top of the world. (Interesting note: The bread truck had no passenger seat, and my dad drove with the doors open. I would ride on top of the engine hump in the delivery truck, and it's amazing that I didn't fall out of the truck and die.)

9. Spending a week at my grandparents' house during the summer. It was quite exotic to spend the night 30 miles from home.

10. Moving. I always liked going into a new house and finding my new room. I never had any problems moving to a new town, and actually liked it.

Since you are from Arkansas, you forgot the part about making out with your cousins.