What is your favorite memory from your youth?

I would probaly have to say going to Europe it was an amazing experience

I’m still in my youth, I hope.

There are WAY too many, but i think just playin jailbreak with my friends in the nieghborhood every weekend in the summer.. That was soo much fun… I would still do it but i think the neighbors would call the cops on us 21 years olds running through their yards

going to the ranch in western South Dakota where my Mom grew up. riding horses across the open prairie, seeing for tens of miles, looking for arrowheads, and horned toads, using an outhouse, rousting about with cousins. seeing a billion stars, sometimes the northern lights, and so quiet at night it was almost uncomfortable.

Summer nights in New Orleans were really good. This was in the late 80s and during high school. Lots of friends, lots of parties, and lots of things to do late into the night. Plus, I grew to like the balmy heat.

High school, in general, was a really good time for me. Single-sex Catholic high schools were more the norm there for those who could afford it, so there was a lot of camaradie without sacrificing social opportunities (owing to the pervading partying nature of the city).

Camping was a blast. My family taught me to appreciate nature through this experiences.

Chasing lightbugs and making snowtunnels with my siblings when living back east. Picking blackberries in the woods. My brother riding his motorcycle while I am in the back holding on for dear life on the sled on snowy days. (I can’t imagine how we survived..lol)

Played a lot outside until sunset. That reminds me will have to show our toddler son how to play “Red Light, Green Light” soon. :)

Dancing in the pouring rain in already-flooded streets with my circle of closest friends….aahhh the memories :)

the first time me and laura went to the city alone (when we were like 10–11), the day when our school had a bombthreat during freshmen year at HS so they closed school at 10am (which meant that our whole town was filled with teen parties since most parents at work), my first computer (intel pentium s 133mhz, 32mb ram,8gb HD – it was a beast), discovering real music and starting my cd collection, Ultimate Frisbee, the carefree innocent life with no worries or doubts

Going to summer camp far away from home – for the freedom from parents, the new friends, and the mostly reliable information about sex.

When the lake in front of our house flooded, we could ride our bikes down the hill into the water across the road. But most of all, the day when I got my first pair of glasses. I was very nearsighted, and all of a sudden, it looked like someone had taken a Sharpie and drawn a black outline around everything. I saw individual leaves on a tree for the first time and was overcome. Until then, I didn’t know how pretty God had made everything. I saw birds for the first time.

That is an amazing story, hossman. When I was 16, I threw away my glasses and went blind for a few vain years before contacts were improved. I’ll never forget the day I got my first contacts and the world was crystal clear again.

@hossman and joli: My experience was quite the opposite…I came out of my mommy cross-eyed when I was born, and had a couple surgeries when I was a baby to correct lazy eye and have had glasses since I was two or three years old. I remember the day when I was 13 at the eye doctor and he told me to take off my glasses and tell me the difference between what I see with them on and what I see with them off. There was no difference!! I still have glasses, but it’s only for the lazy eye and I love being able to say I can see perfectly fine without them too.