Memories

Lately I've been thinking a little about my ancestors. Wondering who they were, what their lives were like. I would love to hear stories about their lives. Not just history like :in 1867 they crossed the plains... etc. But stories of their lives.
Especially the women. What annoyed them about their husbands, what was their favorite part of motherhood, what was their least favorite chore, how did they fall in love? Those kinds of things.
My mom has told us great stories from her life growing up in East Mill Creek Salt Lake. Side-splitting funny stories, but no one has ever written them down. And if no one ever does, the stories will be lost forever when she dies. Her memories will go with her. The only way to keep memories alive is by copying them down, either with pictures or by writing them.
I don't have nearly as many funny stories as my mom, but I do have a few, and it would be a shame for them to be forgotten, so I decided to write some on my blog.

The first has to do with my first (and only I might add) run in with the law, a new pair of boots, and the old Riverton Elementary School.

It was August before my Junior year of High School. I had just returned home from a date with my High School boyfriend, Joel. A few guy friends of mine from the neighborhood, Court Page (I heard he goes by Cameron now) Jeremy Glad, Chad Hardman and maybe Jason Tinsch, were out side and we all stared chatting. They were trying to scare me by telling me stories about the old Riverton Elementary school, and how it was haunted. So, being the obstinate teenager I was, I said, "Prove it". Not a good thing to say to a teenage group of guys.

One of my friends, Chad Hardman, was working for the city that summer, so he had a key to the building (the city had just purchased it).

We drove over to the school, and as we're crossing the parking lot to enter the school from a back door, it dawns on me that this "excursion" could be considered illegal. (Ya know that law about trespassing, and breaking and entering?). Chad opens the door with his key and we're walking all through this old school in the middle of the night while Court tells me stories like how the cafeteria caught on fire and a bunch of kids died, and their spirits still haunt the Cafeteria.

I must admit, I was a little freaked out, mostly because I was pretty sure I was past my curfew and I was going to be in serious trouble with my Dad.

All of a sudden someone yells: "Cop!" and every one takes off running. What I didn't know at the time was that the building had been purchased to house the city's police department among other things.

So the boys and I start running toward the front of the school (the officer was around back in his car) and I'm having a hard time keeping up in my very stiff, very new Doc Martin boots. As I'm nearing the doors to make my escape, quite far behind the rest of the group, the words "fleeing the scene of a crime", and "resisting arrest" start echoing in my mind. I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to make it across the street before the cop gets around to the front doors where I am, so I decide to stop running and just deal with the consequences.

So I walk out side just as the police officer rounds the corner. He gets out of the cruiser with his hand on his gun and starts yelling at me. He wants to know who else is inside and how many of us are there. I tell him I'm alone. The boys I was with took off with out me. He yells some more and accuses me of lying to him and wants to know why I won't tell him who else is inside, as if were staging an ambush or something. I must have looked pretty menacing standing there shaking in my yellow sweater-vest and Doc Martin boots.

I'm trying to convince him that I'm alone, when Joel and Court come walking back from across the street. I guess they decided to come rescue me.

So it's about 15 minutes past my curfew, and my parents get a phone call that goes a little something like this: "This is the Riverton City Police. We have your daughter and we need you to come and get her", something like that.

So My parents come to get me. I'm sitting on the wall that says "Riverton City School" crying my eyes out because the cops are going to take me to ju-vie (juvenile detention for those of you who were not delinquents and aren't familiar with the terminology). Then Joel's parents show up too and I notice them shaking hands with my parents. I hadn't realized this was the first time they'd met. A perfect setting don't you think?

My mom comes over to me and hugs me and says, "Well, I guess we could let them take you to juvenile detention for the night, but I think you probably learned your lesson. " I'm crying too hard to really answer her so I just nod my head.

The other boys were in a lot more trouble though. When they finally came back the cops were waiting for them at their cars. I think Chad got fired and Jeremy had a new truck that he wasn't allowed to drive for a while. I'm not sure exactly what their punishments were, because they quit speaking to me for a while after that. They blamed me for us getting caught, but the cop actually saw us drive up and go inside, so it really wasn't my fault-I'd just like to set that story straight.

Any way, every time I drive past that school and see that wall, I remember sitting there, blubbering, while my parents were meeting my boy friends parents for the first time.

Classic.