My Earliest Memories

I can remember living in Tenessee. I was around 2 and a half then. I remember driving to the hospital to pick up my sister when she was born. There was a row of grey houses with white trim around the roof. I asked my mom about this and she said that was what the houses looked like on the Navy base. She had my sister in the Navy hospital.

I can remember a little boy next door. I think his name was Richard. We used to play along the fence. I think I had a rope swing with a board and he had a doghouse (or vice versa). One day we were eating raw spaghetti. Funny what you remember but that's how it is.

We had a huge back yard. It seems like it was as big as a football field. (My mom has confirmed this). We were flying a kite one day and I remember my dad cussing and chasing after it when I let it loose. We were having a family picnic.

I remember a nightmare. I know how young I was because my uncle Bud was in the twin bed next to mine sleeping. (My mom said he came to visit when my sister was born). I woke up and looked over and there was a black woman's head on my chest of drawers. She looked like Aunt Jemima with a red kerchief around her head. She was staring straight ahead and she kept making licking motions with her mouth over and over. I hid my head under the covers and when I peeked out it was still there. I finally got enough nerve to jump out of bed and run to my parents room and get in bed with them.

I remember my dad coming home with a bandage on his forehead. I thought he was hit in the head with an airplane propeller. I asked him about it and he said that he had walked into the propeller. I asked him how he could survive such a thing. He said "You dummy, the plane was not started. I just walked into the propeller. Of course I wouldn't have survived if it had been running!"

I remember being in a little boat on a lake. My brother and I were crying because we thought the sticks were coming to get us. (it was the way the current swirled around them making them look that way) It scared us so bad that my dad had to quit fishing and take us home.