Friday Four

1. What's your earliest clear recollection from childhood?
Brief flashes from the house we lived in while I was 2-4 years old.  Pet baby ducks, and my daddy letting them swim in the bathtub; a swingset on a hill; a split rail fence in front, and standing on it; a Boston Terrier named Midget who had puppies; the woman who lived across the road and babysat me; riding down the street on my sled, on my daddy's back. We moved when I was four to another house, where I made the first joke I remember - calling the house number "eleven-oh" instead of "one ten". LOTS of memories in that house.

2. What's the first historic event you actually remember? How old were you at the time?
I remember taking part in a parade for the bicentennial - so that was the summer of 1976. 

3. What personal rite of passage -- not something society imposes upon you but something within your own mind -- signified you were finally no longer a kid but a grown up? How old were you when this happened?  Coming to the realization that I was pregnant, and no matter WHAT I did, in September I was going to have a baby come out of me. I was going to HAVE to go through labor, because I was on welfare and I couldn't just ASK for a c-section, I had to need it. (Which I did. I knew I would.)  I remember lying on my back in my bed the night I found out, gripping the edge of the sheet and blankets against my chest, feeling as if I were on a roller coaster and couldn't get off. There were no side exits or chances to change my mind. Pure unadulterated terror would best describe that feeling, and I fell asleep trying to soothe myself.  When I awoke the next morning, I hadn't moved a muscle.  I was 30 years old before I began to feel like a grown up.

4. What's the craziest thing you remember from your childhood. Something that, when you look back on it, you wonder, "Did that really happen, or did I make that up?"  I think I remember a man in a car trying to ask me for directions somewhere.  I think I remember getting closer and closer to the passenger side of his car, trying to figure out what he was saying, before the realization hit me - he was a stranger, and if I got too close to his car I could get in trouble.  A brief flash hit my mind that he could try and grab me, although that would have been impossible, but I backed away and then ran home. There were no other children around, which was VERY unusual for my neighborhood. 
I also remember being psychic with my friends a lot, and screwing with their little heads.  But these were more things that other people would doubt, I don't really doubt them. Much.


**In other news, I'm feeling much better today.  A bit strung out and twitchy, but no pain. Well, except the usual stuff, neck, back, etc etc blahblahblah. I'm still not sure if I'm ever going to let anyone near my parts again. 


**refers to girls-only entry yesterday, sorry guys.