Two Questions out of 30 Answered

Joseph invited Dad and I to answer some family history questions.  He got the idea from the New Era for May and June.  I chose two questions.  Here are the answers.

Family History Questions for Sheri, Mom

What was I like as a child?

I was happy and carefree as a young girl.  Many of us are that way.   In fact I would say all of us, all of my children and my husband anyway.  My paternal grandparents called me “princess”.  This is before the word had a negative, spoiled brat connotation.  They called me princess because I liked to sing and dance around their yard and garden and put flowers in my hair.  I like to hold on to that image of me, a lighthearted, self-assured girl who was content with the world.

I remember reading a Christmas letter my parents were sending out.  I think I was 7 or 8 years old.  I asked my mom “what does extrovert mean?” when I saw that word used to describe me.  I have always been very sociable.  When I was in first grade, my teacher was quite displeased with my talking in class to my neighbors.

I am the fourth child, the third daughter.  I have read some analysis of that child’s place in a family and some of what I’ve learned applies to me.  The fourth child generally wants everyone to get along.  The fourth child is a peacemaker.  Looking back I see some peacemaking tendencies that I had.  I was grateful for two older sisters and an older brother.  I don’t remember feeling anything but thankful for my younger siblings.  I don’t think I felt displaced when they were born.  Of course there were times that I fought with my siblings, but I was generally glad for their companionship and influence.

The birth order went Linda, born 1953, Scott, 1955, Brenda 1957, Me, 1959, Chris, 1961, Kathy 1967 and Brent 1969.

Tell about my worst date ever.
 

It’s a toss-up between two. 

When I was a freshman at Ricks College in 1977-78 I was asked to a Neil Sedaka concert.  He was a fairly famous singer in the late fifties and early sixties.  Then later, in the late 70’s, early 80’s, he was making a comeback.  He was a mild enough singer for Ricks College, but hip enough that you didn’t feel like such a square to like him.  Anyway, a fellow freshman young man named Nylin Quinn asked me to the concert.  It was such an unusual name, I still remember.  It was for a Saturday night. It was the fall semester.  As I said, I was a social bug.  Friday night I had a date, stayed up after getting home visiting with roommates probably until after 1:00.  Then Saturday morning I had another date, early.  It was a double.  We went to Jackson and hiked around.  The guy I was with was into photography and he was trying to capture some beautiful fall colors and scenes.  We got back late afternoon.  I got ready for the concert.  We were up in the high seats of the Hart Gym.  It was warm.  Probably half way through the concert I fell asleep.  I remember waking up and Nylin looking at me quite disgusted.  It was quite out of character for me to fall asleep like that.  I never fell asleep during class or anything like that.  I must have been completely exhausted.  I felt bad, but I didn’t really apologize.  He took me home right after the concert ended and never asked me out again.

Tying for a close second would be a date I recently recalled with Joshua because a girl he home teaches is from Valley Center and has the last name Armstrong.  I went out with a Mike Armstrong the summer after my freshman year, 1978, when I was home in Valley Center.  I was already pretty in love with Alan (Dad), so I wasn’t really looking for any new relationship.  Mike acted like he really liked me, but I was not interested at all.  I’m not sure why I even accepted the date.  I guess because Dad and I had agreed to date other people throughout the summer.  But I was kind of rude.  Mike’s family ran a very successful chicken farm.  He first showed me the family business.  I think he was probably trying to impress me, but also get my reaction for a possible future wife.  He showed up in an old classic car.  It was pink.  The original color.  I don’t remember the model, but it was probably from the 50’s.  He had had it restored to mint condition.  So we toured the chicken farm, (awful smell!) and then went to some sort of fun park where we drove go-carts around a track.  It was a Saturday night and the next day was Fast Sunday.  After the go-cart he offered to get me a milkshake or something and I said I had already started my fast.  I was not a good conversationalist, which is also out of character for me.  I showed no interest in him or his business or car or anything.  He was very polite and cheerful.  The best conversation I had with him was a few months later when he was engaged to a very sweet girl and sharing his good news with me.  I was genuinely happy for him and wished him the very best.