i remember when it was nearing thanksgiving. i hadnt gone home yet. i was so antsy. this place was suffocating me, i could feel it in my legs, my lungs, my chest. i needed to go home. 

i remember when i first walked in. there were so many. how do they fit? i wondered if they missed their home like i did.

i remember the ravioli mom used to make. the big kind. the big ravioli drenched in bold red marinara, sprinkled with parmesan like snow. i used to gobble it up in short minutes. so fast that it always stained my face. 

i remember when we ran out of ravioli. when the ravioli turned into beans, mush, mud. i felt so bad for the people who didnt get a chance to have the ravioli because the others seemed pretty satisfied, the red sauce getting caught in their tangle of a white beard. but they ate on anyway, only some complained.

i remember falling asleep on the couch in front of the tv. big leather brown cushions with one shaggy black and white dog at my feet and one plump black one at my head. peace. 

i remember the rows. rows and rows of hard wooden benches, like pews, facing the large flat-screen tv. squeezed in like sardines. it looked anything but comfortable, let alone peaceful.

i remember my memories. i remember growing up, moving, making friends, going to college. one time i flipped over our little yellow race car at my granparents old house and had to get seven stitches.

one man remembered walking across the US in a peace walk. did it really happen? i wonder if they had vivid memories of their childhood like i did. 

Design Group

As a design group there are some remaining questions that need to be answered as a class prior to our finalization of a design for the book and/or placements. First, the layout of the design depends upon which medium we choose to publish book/placemat. Second, we think that photos and colors would be essential to the placemat or book and therefore, we would need to know what pieces would be in the book -- editing group. Finally, the money group said that if we used place mats we would make 1,000 copies by copies do you mean exact replicas of the same place mat or could we have numerous different place mats? We really think it would be beneficial to have borders on the place mats that could be composed of a consistent phrase throughout all the place mats or the title of the piece or the authors name etc.

I Remember.

I remember walking down my stairs, every morning, hearing the sound of the morning news in the background of breakfast demands and daily planning. 

I remember dinner requests, although, variety and choice was lacking.

I remember boiling a pot hot water, making a mug of Tazo Clam Tea, sitting back in one of the two big leather recliners in my living room, and turning on a movie.

I remember the business of life, the drama.  

I remember an artist.

I remember sitting around my living room, laughing.  Recognizing how grateful I am to be blessed with such a wonderful family.

I remember Lucy, my fat, yellow lab, making annoying sounds and getting in everyone's way.  Yet, home wouldn't be the same without her.  

I remember being truly happy.  Truly at home. 

I Remember......

I remember when my sister came in my room crying, she came to wake me up to tell me that my unce had a heartattack and had passed away...

I remember waking up to Christmas morning and my father not being there...The family trying to tell us he will be there next christmas...The saddest moment I had for a while...

I remember being for my ninth birthday I had begged my parents for a puppy and they convinced me that I just wasn't getting one and then I went outside and here come running a little brown puppy, the most memorable day...

I remember the undesired sounds of a baby crying and the annoying yelps of the neighborhood dogs going crazy then I looked out my bedroom window and the ambulance lights nearly blinded me, not realizing what happend I had went on the front porch and I watched medical team carry out the babies mom out on a stretcher, she had over dosed....

I remember pulling up to this parking meter looking over seeing a man peeing on what I do believe was a trash can, a bunch of people standing around outside and us walking in after circling the block several times...

I remember baby sitting my Niece for the first by myself I was so scared and she was so small, I thought it just is going to go terrible...It was the best experience...


I remember going camping with all my friends, and there was 5 of us in this tent and I was scared because I kept hearing noises and I looked up with the flash light over to the other camping site and on there picnic table was a racoon who had opened a can of beer from their cooler and was actually drinking it, I had to wake everyone up so they would believe me!!!

I Remember..

I remember playing flashlight tag with the kids in my neighborhood. I hid behind the evergreen tree across from my house in the night’s wet grass.
I remember all the people standing on the ice covered, downtown sidewalk in the middle of winter waiting for a simple meal.
I remember flicking the thermometer like my mom always did but hitting it on the couch. It shattered into little pieces – mercury rolling around on the seat cushion.
I remember when the soup ran out and it was replaced by a massive bucket of foul smelling beans.
I remember when my brother and his friends ‘accidently’ caught the tree line behind our house on fire. I waived down the fire truck while my dad attempted to put the fire out with a tiny, plastic bucket.
I remember when the water jugs ran out. I asked for them to be refilled so I could keep filling the flimsy, plastic cups. But no, everyone else would have to get water out of the drinking fountain now.
I remember moving into our new house – the house specifically built for us. It took me several weeks to get use to the smell of fresh plaster and paint.
I remember the old woman with nothing but a small shopping cart to her name. She kept to herself and never made eye contact.
I remember happily pushing my little sister around in a shopping cart. I begged my mom for something different in every aisle. Fruit Rollups! Score.

I remember...

The smell. You typically don't know the smell of your own home until you've come back from a trip, or left it behind for some time. I always wanted to capture that smell and keep it with me when I went away. Olfactics are the basis for memory. A smell can stir emotions and memories more than any other sense. My home smells like Tide Original, windexed windows, lavender, wooden floors, fresh, food being cooked, warm, loving, and welcoming. It smells like my dogs, in a good way. Their happy mentalities wagging in our place of warmth and comfort. It smells like my dad's cologne that he always applies like he'll need to smell this way for 3 days. It smells like Neutrogena shampoo and conditioner my mom uses. It smells like Old Spice - Hank thinks he's a man now or something.

I remember...

The light switch to the left of one's entrance into our everchanging kitchen. My mom should've gone to school for interior design. Instead, she remodels every room in the house each year or so. The light switch is at rib level for me. It is positioned in the middle of a small column of wall before the pantries begin. The light switch isn't actually a light switch. It is a spherical knob that lightens and darkens the kitchen. The knob is ugly and off-white and needs to be replaced. It falls off if you press or pull any other way than inward. Or if your fingers are sticky. The noise it makes when it hits the ground scares my dogs. When it falls, the two of them scatter their frightened bodies away from the sound of the indestructable plastic knob.