My Memories

For Christmas, Pam sent Clyde and me little books that have made us think.  The title is simple - it is My Mom and My Dad but it is the subtitle that is cool and that is "His/Her stories and words".

Because the book is so small there are some questions that cannot be answered in the space allotted.  I would also like my sister to answer on her blog with her take the questions.  I think that would eye opening to everyone that reads our blogs.  I was not the only one that grew up in our family.  It would be fun to have Bob's take too but I don't see that happening any time soon.  I am actually giving different answers than I did in the book.  Pam can do with the book what she wants but the answers change the more I ponder them.  Fortunately there is no wrong answer.

What kind of house did you grow up in and what was the old neighborhood like?
We moved A Lot!  The first house I remember was just off of Fort Sam Houston, about a mile from the hospital.  I remember lying on the floor in the afternoon of late summer to cool off and talking to Aunt Norma.  Mom was very pregnant with Marianne at the time - so I was really little.  I remember her getting mad at me because I wanted to sit on her lap and she kept telling me she didn't have one!  This is in the days before air conditioning.

When we lived on Infantry Post on the other side of Fort Sam Houston, we had 2 window units about 2 years after we moved there - because that was when Mom was pregnant with Bob.  One went in my parents bedroom and the other went in the living room.  The was a duplex and for the most part our connecting neighbors were always close friends.  I loved living on Infantry Post because I just kind of ran wild there. I had a group of friends and we literally just ran in and out of each others houses all of the time but we lived outside.  I would get so mad when we had to come in for naps.  I now understand that we were coming in at the hottest part of the day for our own protection.  The nap was for my mother's sanity.  We lived on Infantry Post for almost 6 years.

We lived in Germany for 3 years and lived in 4 different apartments.  The first one was a small 2 bedroom apartment in Bad Vilbel, just outside of Frankfurt.  I finally learned how to ride a bike there because it was a flat surface and a courtyard too boot.  My best friend was a Romanian refugee named Peter Schoen (his family moved from Romania just before the Russians took it over and put it behind the Iron Curtain.  His father and mother both were professors at one of the university's in Frankfurt).  For the 2 months we lived there, Peter and I did everything together and he took me all over Bad Vilbel.  I picked up German quickly because he patiently taught me.  My most fun memory of that apartment was my father (Archie Brugger, Popi,) had a unique way of making paper airplanes.  They stayed aloft for quite awhile.  He made my brother, Bob and Peter, each an airplane one evening and they were playing with them outside.  Peter showed his to a friend and Dad made the friend one. Pretty soon there was a line outside of our apartment and out into the courtyard of young people wanting an airplane.  I remember being so proud.  Dad made airplanes until his hands hurt but he couldn't disappoint these kids.

This post is long enough and I will continue it tomorrow.  I also want to report that except for my interview with the Stake President and my Doctor submitting my medical - all of my mission paperwork is done.  The Doctor is waiting for Clyde's test results to get in and he will submit ours together but in essence my work is done!