What? An Essay?

Tagged once again.

What is the earliest memory you have as a child? Think far back.
I’m not sure if it was the earliest because I have a few from this time period but I had to be close to three or so. But I was on the balcony of the apartment complex that I lived at when my dad was stationed at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada. We lived on the second floor or maybe the third. I remember climbing on to a chair which required a lot of effort. The chair was up against the railing and on the chair I could look over the edge. And I remember looking down before either my dad or my mom pulled me back.


What is a special memory you have about someone? It could be a grand parent, family friend, - not including your parents – that you knew as a child. What do you recall about them that makes the memory special?
The neighbor lady that lived a few doors down when I was in Idaho. It was Halloween and I was eager to get as much candy as I possibly could. Towards the end, I wanted to go to this house but my Dad said that they weren’t giving out candy. I thought it was ridiculous. Why wouldn’t anyone want to give out candy? But he said that because they didn’t have their light on, they didn’t celebrate it. He let me go up to the house though and I came face to my face with my kindly neighbor and said, “trick or treat.” In the kind demeanor that she always had, she said, “Sorry but we don’t celebrate Halloween.”

It was probably the first time that I realized that someone that I liked was different than I was. And while I didn’t get any candy from her, she was always the nice neighbor lady to me. It was also the beginning of when my dad would let me start making my own choices and having to deal with the consequences. I look back on it as a lesson of life type of thing.


What was a favorite game you played as a child?
Scram ball. It worked like this: There was a cube ball with each side of it a different colors. There were also six corresponding bands that players wore. If six people were playing they would get one colored band each. If three people were playing they would be assigned two colors. So the group of 3-6 players would gather together. A person holding the ball would throw the ball up. It would land and the person whose color was on top had to get the ball. Meanwhile the rest would run away from the ball. Once the person grabbed the ball, s/he would say, “stop!” The rest would stop in their tracks and they could not move their feet. The person with ball would then try to hit one of the other players with the ball after taking four steps in the direction of his/her target.


What was a memorable trip that you can recall being a little kid and what did you do that makes you think about it even now?
For my birthday when I was in second grade, my dad took me and my sister to Disneyland (that's the one in California). It was a long trip from Idaho but I got to go through mountains and deserts. We had to drive through this mountain pass that was ice and snow covered and made me want to pee my pants when I looked over the edge. We tried Jack ‘n the Box burgers to test our fate with E. coli.

What makes me think about it now? Well, it was really the only vacation I remember taking as a little kid.


Did you ever fall in love as a child?
I did not.