Homer & Marge.

My maternal grandparents, the Gordon's, were married in the 1930's, but it was always fun telling my friends that their names were Homer & Marge. Of course, The Simpsons, didn't premiere until I was in Elementary School, but kids just could not believe that they had the same names as their favorite animated family!

This photo was taken on an Easter Sunday, shortly after I decided to give myself a haircut and trim my own bangs. This was WAY before asymmetrical haircuts were in...I was just before my time. Please also note those socks with sandals and my Punky Brewster doll.

I have a lot of fond memories of spending every Sunday after Mass at my grandparents house. I loved that the heating in their home came in through the floor. There was nothing better than stuffing myself full of food at breakfast to come and take a nap on their warm, carpeted living room floor. We spent almost every Christmas Eve there and various other holidays. I can remember hunting for Easter eggs in their back yard with my brother and younger cousins, lighting off fireworks in their driveway on the 4th of July and sitting in my grandpa's office, reading his latest work of fiction or playing games on grandma's word processor.

Recently, my Mom passed away and she was living in their old house. I spent a week cleaning and organizing all the collections she had kept over the years. Some of those memories came flooding back, but the house just wasn't the same. But there will always be the good memories...

An American Citizen.

Here's a photo from the day I got my American Citizenship! I consider myself lucky that my parents could apply for citizenship for me, since I'm not sure if I would have passed the test on my own.

Also, let's talk about how cool it was to bring in my Citizenship certificate to Show & Tell as a kid. Not many other kids in Lincoln had one of them at the time, so it was something unique I could bring in versus showing up with my Care Bears for another year.

I don't remember much about this day, but I know my Mom was pregnant with my brother, Philip, at the time. She always wanted to have a big family and thought she couldn't have kids, so it was nice that once she & Dad adopted me, that they were finally able to have one.

The Chen Grandparents.

After my Dad immigrated to the United States, and Lincoln, Nebraska, he helped bring the rest of his family over and to the Midwest. My grandparents, Thomas and Sally, had a small house near the East Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

My grandpa, was the one who kept English in the family and I remember that he was always obsessed with magic tricks. He always had some sort of fun, new trick to show me and all the other Chen grandchildren; disappearing ink, a cup that made an egg disappear. We would all sit around him when he was showing us tricks and revel in his laugh.

My grandma, or Popo, as we called her; was always cooking and playing the hostess to whatever was going on in her small home.

I think this photo must have been taken around some sort of special occassion or holiday. Maybe Easter? It's hard to know, since I was always dressing up and being a ham; which is hard to believe now, since you'll hardly ever see me in a dress.

Sears Coloring Contest.

When I was growing up, the arrival of the Sears Roebuck Christmas Catalog was a big deal. Each year, they had a coloring contest for various age groups of children with various prizes, but the best one, being the cover of the local Christmas catalog.

I remember drawing an elaborate Christmas tree with my giant box of Crayola crayons. All the toys that I wanted were featured on this tree: Barbie, My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Care Bears. My parents entered me in the category for my age group, which had to be around 6-8 years old. 

I was very surprised to find out that I won the portion for my age group! I got to have a photo shoot with my parents and was featured in the Lincoln newspaper.

Recently, I found that black and white photo, which made me wonder where that drawing was and why we didn't think to make a copy of it before sending it off...oh well, I'm sure it wasn't as great in real life as it was in my memories. 

I'm sitting on the counter of the catalog department, with my Mom & Dad. Plus, check out that awesome Rainbow Brite dress!