The other day, I was hanging out with my three children on our backyard trampoline, when my five-year-old daughter, Ella, made a request.

“Mommy, can you tell me a story about when you were a kid?” she said.

Immediately, a very specific memory came to mind.

***

I was four and living my best life at a family barbecue, swimming in my grandparents’ pool with my cousins. But something annoying kept happening: I’d feel the urge to pee at the worst times. Like, right when it was finally my turn to jump off the diving board. Or in the middle of an epic game of mermaids.

On my fifth restroom trip, I decided enough was enough. After relieving my bladder, instead of pulling my cold, wet suit back up, I peeled it down around my ankles and stepped right out of it. I then dropped my sequined one-piece INTO THE TOILET and walked away.

On my way back to the pool, I figured no one would notice that I was in the nude, as long as I made it into the water quickly. Yet, of course, everyone noticed. “Jannelley…” my teenage cousin Lupe said, as I passed her.
“Where are your clothes?” My mom rushed over with a towel, and for the rest of that afternoon, my pool time was over.

Still, I felt a mixture of pride and fascination. I had been a “big girl” and solved a very cumbersome problem by myself.

***

By the end of my story, Ella was rolling on the trampoline laughing. Since that day, she’s asked me to retell “the bathing suit down the toilet story” almost every evening, and I realized it might just be my best piece of childhood lore.

Now, I’d love to know: What childhood stories of yours do the kids in your life love to hear?

P.S. Another funny story and how to teach your child not to interrupt.