Was there a magical year of your childhood?

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Tomorrow, Nov. 8, will be the one year anniversary of my diagnosis of AS. From that time, I have done a lot of thinking back on my eccentric childhood. Even before my diagnosis, I often looked back on my childhood, and there is always one year that seems special---1974. I was 9 years old (10 in Nov. of 1974), and that was the year my avatar picture was taken of me. So, why is it magical to me?

*It was the year I rode the roller coaster that has become my #1 favorite---Swamp Fox in Myrtle Beach, SC. After riding it, a tornado touched down in Myrtle Beach and knocked the power out. When we returned to our hotel, everyone in our group had lost their beach towels and swimsuits but me because I have always obsessively tied these items to balcony railings and chairs.

*We took two vacations that year to Myrtle Beach---Easter and Summer. I went with my family, best friend, and some other friends of the family. I remember hearing a song I fell in love with at Myrtle Beach---"Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae.

*I began bowling and it was the one sport I was good at. I can still smell the bowling alley and the music coming from the juke box such as "Rock the Boat" by the Hues Corporation.

*I believe this was the year I got obsessed with electronic organs---especially Kimballs.

*It was around this time that I decided I would play Trombone in band---influenced partly because my cousin was a professional trombonist who once had his own big band and television show. I idolized him. Years later, I met him...and in his last years of life I was saddened because he had become depressed acting and drinking a lot.

I am sure there are more things here that I could list, but these come to mind right now. For some reason, 1974 was just neat and magical. It was the beginning of the disco era. Cars were land yachts---and I liked big cars. 1974 was a year that I look back on can remember things there quite vividly with a good feeling.

So...was there a particular year in your childhood that was magical for you? If so, what was it and share a few things if you like.

I believe it was 1997. I was 7 years old.

The magic didn't start until the summertime. That year, lighting streaked across the sky, accompanied my booming rolls of thunder. Almost every single day, a thunderstorm occurred. I loved watching the sky from my living-room window. The window looked out upon a field with few trees, so I had an excellent view.

One day, me and my brother were looking out the window at the storm, as usual, and a big lightning bolt struck the tree that is just 10 feet away from our window. The shock sent us flying across the room and we landed on our butts. We thought it was the coolest thing ever! My mom was extremely worried, however, and tried to discourage us from being next to the window in a storm again.
After the storm, we inspected the area. There were pieces of bark strewn all over the ground near the tree. The tree itself had a huge scar in it that almost reached to the ground. I kept a piece of bark as a memento of that day.

On the sunny days, there were tons of bugs flying about. Lighting bugs lit the air in the evenings. Everywhere I looked, a lightning bug would flash. Mosquitoes were abundant and I got plenty of bites. This didn't bother me much, though. Because there were so many mosquitoes, there were many, many very fat and sluggish June bugs and dragonflies! These large insects were so slow, I could just walk up to a flying one and catch it in my hand. Some of these bugs were so clumsy, they would just bump into me.

Everyone told me that dragonflies couldn't bite. Well, one day, I caught a dragonfly in my hand, and I closed my hand around it. Then it bit me. I was amazed that it could do that! I was thrilled that I learned something new, and I gained even more respect for dragonflies.

One day, I was at this place in my neighborhood called "The Circle." It's basically a huge cul-de-sac with a grass circle in the middle of it. A ditch surrounds the circumference of the outside of the cul-de-sac, to drain water. There was a swarm of dragonflies there, just flying around and around and around. I was standing in the middle of that dragonfly vortex. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I later discovered that the dragonflies were also swarming at the playground, spinning around it just like at The Circle.

We had a little pool, those plastic baby pools that kids play in during the summer. The June bugs would bumble their way over and accidentally fall into the water. I would rescue them. The June bugs were a beautiful iridescent bright green. I loved catching them and then holding them up to the sky to see how long they would wait until they took off again.

One day, at The Circle, the ditch was riddled with big fat grubworms. There was trash inside the ditch. There was a McDonald's Big Mac container. I opened it and it was filled to the brim with chubby grubworms. It was gross, and so cool at the same time.

In the field behind my house is an area of grass that is allowed to grow very long. There are a few tall plants that harbor many aphids. Because there were so many aphids, there were also many, many ladybugs. I would gather all the ladybugs off of one plant and hold them in my hand. I walked up to this one girl to show her the at least twenty ladybugs that crawled all over my hand and arm,, and she ran away screaming. I was delighted at her overdramatic reaction.

One particularly stormy day, the weather channel was issuing tornado watches and warnings everywhere. My brother and I looked out the window and saw at least eleven funnels descending from the clouds. We were fascinated, and tried to call mom over so she could see. She thought we were lying. We kept insisting and she finally gave in and took a look out the window. She started panicking and made us go into the hallway and cover our heads with pillows and cushions. After a while (a few minutes, maybe) we got bored with that and continued looking out the window. There was no wind, no noise, nothing. Just many funnels in the sky. Later on, the weatherman said that it was actually a very rare cloud phenomenon, and not real funnels.

Then summer smoothly transitioned into fall.

One crisp, windy Autumn day, the trees near The Circle started shedding their leaves. The wind swept the leaves high into the sky and the leaves would rain down from everywhere. It was like a scene from the movies. It was magical.



I have never ever seen so many storms, bugs, or leaves ever since. I am afraid I never will. It was the most fantastic, magical year of my life.

Any time i was allowed to be alone was a magical time in my childhood.

All of them. Though they weren't "magical", as magic doesn't exist.

Without getting into long personal stories (believe it or not), for some reason 1972 has always stuck with me as being a landmark point in my life - I would have been 13 then, although the actual significant memories probably cover a period that would include parts of 71 and 73 as well...the pop music of that period has always been especially evocative of pleasant memories.

But then 76-77, my last two years of high school also hold a high degree of emotional significance as well, though there were as many traumas as magical moments, that period, too is fraught with intense musical associations with specific life-changing events...

and the 78-79 period is a movie unto itself, but I was a young adult by then...its all about the music for me in any case...music is a time machine that transports me instantly back to special people and moments...

I think my magical moments in childhood are related to sports achievement.

I only learned to swim when I was about 7, maybe 8.

I remember being terrified of jumping into the 'deep end' because I would sink to the bottom and never go back up

Once I got over the fear of the deep end I found that I was a good swimmer.

Unusually I was strongest with the br**st stroke (not sure if that would be deleted if I didn't asterix ) which most children, back in the 60s where I lived, learned AFTER freestyle/front crawl.

I used to win races all the time and was often responsible in large part for winning medly team events as I would typically win by 10 meters in a 50m event.


I also overcame severe breathlessness as a child.

I have never understood how I could be a competition swimmer and yet suffer breathlessness when I tried to run.


I took up running at 14; by the time I was 17 I was running 3 miles in 14 minutes.


In the words of Forrest Gump: 'I could run like the wind blows'


Running was my best (and probably only) friend as a teenager.

Happy memories

1991, when I was in grade 1. It seemed fine, I made friends and I actually got to go over their houses and play.

I try not to think of the year after that, though.

My best years were during 1992 at age 8, 1994 at age 10, and 2002-2003, even though I was already 19 by then.
Those were the years when so many things seemed to go right, and so little seemed to go wrong.

During 1992 I was still in Special Ed, and got along well with my classmates in my regular class, and I was treated well by my classmates in the math classroom where I was mainstreamed. Also, I wasn't shy nor insecure during that time, and I had decent friends. Also, that was the year when we first got our dog, as a puppy. And, we got our Sega Genesis with the game Sonic the Hedgehog, and I 1st found out about and started watching Underdog. I became obsessed with those things at least until Jr. High.
In 1994, my sister went through a phase in which she treated me better and allowed me to hang out with her friends. Also, it was the year when the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and cartoon series 1st started being made. During this year, I also went to a completely different school and was in a regular classroom and my weirdness (both intentional and unintentional) had made me popular (until a year later when my classmates changed their minds about me and considered me one of the dorkiest students in the school).
The 2002-2003 school year was when I was a Freshman in college. I had moved from a narrow-minded, image oriented city to a very liberal, hippyish college town that encouraged weirdness and individuality. Also, that year, I had a crush on someone that seemed to also like me back. My college years was a major contrast with my preteen and teenage years. During my college years, I had actually made a lot of good friends and acquaintances.

Thank you for the wonderful replies so far on this thread. This has been enjoyable reading.

Wow CleverKitten---what a year for you in 1997. I bet that was a shock (excuse the pun) of getting sent across the room from the lightning strike. 1997 must really have been a wild year for weather. That was the year that here in Ohio we had the huge flood. People here had never seen anything like it.

Yes Lithium73, I can understand being left alone as magical---I always treasured those times too.

Danielismyname---no magic . Well not in the literal sense anyway, but things often seemed magical in childhood. And I see magic in our memories---with memories we can see, hear, feel, touch, and taste the past.

Willard---I agree about the music back then, it was neat indeed. 1976 for me was the bicentennial of the United States and my families vacation out West. And 1977---we missed a month of school due to a blizzard. I remember building an 8 foot tall skyscraper out of a Girder and Panel building system as we were homebound. Outside, I built snowcaves through the tall mounds of snow---my dog and I used to race through those tunnels. After the big thaw, there were all kinds of bones laying around where my dog had buried them in the tunnels. And 1977 was also the year my parents bought a camper. And 1977 was when I got to ride my first waterslide (in Myrtle Beach). Oh, it was cold that July in Myrtle Beach. Hmm, 1977 seems magical to me too. And I agree with you---music is like a time machine.

Blindspot149---Congratulations on your swimming accomplishments. I swam at about that age too---but I was never that good at swimming for some reason. I liked the doggy paddle, and I could never seem to float. Swimming to you was what bowling was to me. And running---wow that wore me out. Good for you in being able to run like that.

Xelebes---Grade one wasn't too bad for me either except my teacher took away my pencil collection. I searched all the room for them, but they were gone. Funny, I still think about that day a lot. You must have had a bad 2nd grade. For me, my teacher said I was having trouble settling down to work in 2nd grade.

Rainbowbutterfly---As an adult I enjoyed Sonic too. Thats neat about your "weirdness" making you popular even if it didn't seem to last that long. College sounded like an enjoyable time for you. For me, I didn't fit in with the colleges I went to. But that was ok by me. But I am glad yours went well.

The last year of junior school/ age 10-11, most of my fond memories are from their. The school break times were fun and I had a good balance between friends and alone time. The school discos that year were the most enjoyable because the music that came out in those 4 years I spent in juniors (2000-2004) was the best music era, ever. It was also a year for self discovery and all that bollocks.
Yeah it was generally good.

My favourite time was the nine months before I was born... It's been all downhill since.

"Never believe it's not so" topic

My detailed conscious childhood years from 1959-67 ( between 5 and 13 years of age) were magical for me because my thoughts were roaming far and wide as my curiosity exploded via reading and imagination, when I was able to shut out the nastier parts of life, before I learned about the seamier side of humanity. But then my current major special interest came about, and it has been with me for just over 42 years, and this was a new era for me, and has been with me ever since.

I am of the opinion that there was a kind of evolving from my childhood interests (some of which I still engage in) and the way I am now.

1983 was a very magical year in my childhood. That was the year that I stopped having accidents, that I turned 9 in October and that really cool song was on the radio, which I've learned years later, was 'Come Dancing' by The Kinks. That was the year that I started to shine. I was 8 for most of that year. It was the best year of my childhood.

nope

MONKEY---That is a great thing to have a balance between friends and alone time. Music seems to be a center of many of our magical times of childhood. I am happy you found good times.

TallyMan---Well, tell us about those nine months before you were born .

Sartresue---Yes, reading and imagination, very important I believe. Being able to shut out those "nastier parts of life" would be a good thing. Many of my childhood interests remained with me too. That's wonderful.

CockneyRebel---1983 was a good year for me too, I graduated from high school. In your case of no longer having accidents---a very good thing too. I am glad you have a magical year too.

Eggman---well, perhaps you will think of something.