Birth - Kindergarten in Watching Time Go By

My earliest memories come in small batches.

I don’t know how old I am when I remember them or if some where parts of dreams I had when I was so small. I do happen to have some pictures that prove some of my memories were real. Such as visiting Santa - playing in a small play pen with my uncle in the basement family room - visiting my grandma’s house and staring at her velvet, emerald green chair. I could be anywhere between 1-3 in those memories.

I think the one of myself being tucked into a crib by someone other than my parents may have been a dream. And perhaps also a memory of being on a beach with my Aunt, and I swear my belly button popped out. (I don’t think that happened). I would always have strange dreams of my grandma’s house. In particular, it was always about the finished attic. It was white with light blue carpet & walls. There were several storage doors in the walls and a door that led to the unfinished portion of the attic where they kept things like wedding dresses, board games, and older keepsakes of my mom growing up. The basement was unfinished and large and open. It had a certain smell because the laundry was done there and in the very back was my grandpa’s work bench. And another unfinished bathroom.

I do also dream about my father’s parent’s basement sometimes as well. To get to it, you had to go through a door in the garage. It was half finished and half not. In my dreams, these are places that are safe to be in. I hide from storms in some dreams. In others, I go to them to explore. I vaguely remember how I’d just fall asleep and nap in my room sometimes. I liked crawling under the kitchen table to look up at the underside of it and crawl through the spaces in the chairs. I wore little nightgowns that went down to my ankles. I remember listening to the birds chirping in the mornings when I would wake up.

What I know of myself from when I was small is that I, probably like most children, had a wild imagination. Not so much that I was creating things in my mind, but I was playing in my mind a lot. I imagined things all the time. Conversations were always in my head. Sometimes, my sister and I would be tucked in for bed and we’d play “house” with our imaginations until we fell asleep.

We did play outside a lot, too. My dad would always set out a mini pool for us and there was also the sprinkler hose. I remember having babysitters every weekend, or going to my grandma’s house or having my aunt and uncle watching over us. We liked having our babysitters because they were pretty fun. If my great grandma watched us, she usually just watched TV and we went and played with our toys. If we went to grandma’s, we probably stayed the night or the whole weekend.

My grandma would help us practice for cheer leading. She liked going shopping a lot, (and still does). But, going to her house was kind of boring with the exception of going through our Aunt & Uncle’s stuff. They had books and games and knickknacks that all teenagers had. Although, they were usually out partying with their friends. (Early 90s). I had probably also started gymnastics at some point. I didn’t like it but I didn’t hate it, yet. If you have young children, you should get them into gymnastics to get them to know their bodies. Flexibility and strength can combat against clumsiness and poor posture.

I suppose my parent’s went out drinking when my dad wasn’t working at the fire station. One of my favorite things to do when I knew they’d be coming home at night was to fall asleep in their bed and then smell the bar smell on them when they came home. I liked it. It was special to me. It might be part of why I kind of enjoy the smell of regular cigarettes in small doses.

I don’t know that us siblings all got along. There were three of us girls. I was the oldest. We did play pretend - house; store; school; coloring. We fought a lot, too. Over things and space in the car for our elbows.

I remember I didn’t really like eating.
I’d pretend to fall asleep at dinner a lot just to get out from eating.
I used to hate spaghetti. It was too filling for me.
I loved tomatoes, pickles, cereal, pop-tarts, sweet & sour salad, fish sticks, veal patties, tator-tots, grandma’s BLTs & broccoli cheese soup, and salami sandwiches with mustard. Definitely my dad’s pickled eggs.
I hated eggs, cheese, bacon, chocolate, macaroni, and baked chicken. Although, it always felt special when my dad wanted to ask me what kind of baked chicken I wanted. I always wanted lemon chicken. I also loved tomato soup a lot and looked forward to my dad fixing me a bowl after I played out in the snow until my nose ran and my cheeks were red.
My dad is a good cook. My mom was okay at cooking, but like her mother, I don’t think she enjoyed it, so it was kind of so-so when it came to her meals. I also can’t say she’s a bad cook.

My parents went to church for a little while but I think after pre-school they had stopped.
I was baptized a little under a month.

I remember going to pre-school. I liked it. I remember making friends there and learning to brush my teeth. I went to two different pre-schools. One was in a church building, the other was at a school building. I used to chase a little boy around on the tri-cycle and hiss like a snake.

I remember going to kindergarten for the AM classes. I learned to count to 100 and the alphabet. My mom would call me pinky and I’d hate it. I think I had a hard time learning how to tie my shoes. I played with the other kids. There was one I knew from family friends whose name was Richard. I named my pet rock after him. I remember being jealous of boy toys because they seemed more fun.

I cried one day in Kindergarten because I was moving a little slower than everyone else and got in trouble for it. I also peed my pants once because I couldn’t figure out how to undo my buttons. It was a skirt, too, and my mom had a good laugh over it.

It was also the first time I was exposed to a computer. Apple II and there was also a computer with windows. (I believe this is ‘93 or ‘94). I loved computers. I loved playing games and creating art on them. I don’t know if there was internet yet, but I was also playing on my mom’s computer at home, too, sometimes. Not a lot, yet. I also got to play with Nintendo a lot. I loved playing Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, some Disney Game, Marble Madness, Cool Spot, and I’m sure there are games I’m forgetting.