Samantha: the blog

Ten Moments I Will Never Forget

These are not the ten most important moments in my life. These are not arranged in any particular order. These are just ten moments I happened to think of and will always remember. They are not all fond memories. They are not all bad memories. They are just ten memories.


* Walking along the beach with Chris in Coronado. It was nighttime, full moon, gentle breeze. It was like something out of a movie. The beautiful Hotel Del was behind us, all lit up. The water was washing over our feet and we just strolled along the beach, holding hands. It was perfect. I will never forget that night.


* Hiding in my closet one day after school. Hearing the phone ring and knowing I was dead. My mother answered the phone. My first grade teacher Mrs. Bigler was on the other end. My mother proceeded to listen about how that day, I had raided the bubble gum jar at school. My pockets were stuffed with gumballs. I was dead.


* Standing at the top of Angel's Landing. After an awesome hike at Zions, it felt like we were on top of the world. It had been lightly raining and so the whole valley was filled with a soft mist. Steep cliffs and small waterfalls. It was beautiful. And I hate hiking.


* Aubrey's brother Stephen walked in on me in the shower. It was pretty awful. I had spent the night at Aubrey's house and was using her parents shower. It is all glass. I thought the door was locked. There was nothing left to the imagination. I was pretty embarrassed. I'm sure he was even more so.


* Riding on the back of an elephant while on vacation in Thailand. I don't think many American's get the chance to do that. I did. So did my parents, brother, and grandparents. Taylor's leg almost got crushed between the elephant and the giant stairs used to climb on them. He survived.


* Peeing my pants at school in 8th grade. These were the days of socializing with Paul Kennington and his hackey-sacking posse. I don't remember what was said. I do remember having to sit on the sidewalk because I was laughing so hard. I couldn't hold it. I knew my mom wasn't home that day so I had to decide which was worse. Calling my grandma to come get me, or suffering through the rest of school. I opted to borrow Aubrey's hoodie and tie it around my waist. I worked great.


* Shooting my hand with a staple gun. In Young Women's one year, we made little stools for us to take to girls camp. They were the kind that look like an X when you unfold them and have fabric across the top. Mine was so cute. It was purple fabric with little yellow flowers. I didn't do a very good job at stapling the fabric. Aubrey's mom had a staple gun so she brought it over to my house so I could fix it. I didn't know how to use it and I ended up holding it backwards. I shot a staple through my pinky. I looked at and started laughing hysterically. That laugh quickly turned into a scream. It hurt a lot worse to leave it in then it did to pull it out. (Which I did about 20 minutes later.) Aubrey and I love to tell this story.


* Hiking Hole-in-the-Rock at Lake Powell. It was long and hot, but it was a neat hike. Actually, it was more of a climb than a hike. I remember standing at the top of the canyon, looking down at the water. It was a long way down. I kept inching closer to the edge, wanting to look straight down. I then realized that if I slipped even a little bit, I would be dead in about 15 seconds. I decided not to risk it. It was just as beautiful 10 feet back.


* Syrup snow cones. I once made snow cones out of maple syrup and snow. The kind that falls from the sky. I tried to sell them in front of my house. It was the middle of winter. No one bought any. I didn't want them to go to waste, so I ate them. All of them. Needless to say, I didn't like syrup for awhile. A long while.


* Aubrey and I had a lemonade stand once. This time it was actually summertime. We didn't use syrup, we used koolaid. We were sitting at a little table in front of my house. It was hot and I was thirsty. There was only a little bit of koolaid left in the pitcher, so I poured myself a glass. We sat there for a few minutes just talking. A man in a big truck drove up and asked for a glass . We didn't have any more and had to turn him away. Aubrey didn't talk to me for the rest of the day. I think she overreacted a little.