Thanksgiving 2023 - My earliest childhood memories

 Do you remember...

This year was different. Not different in the fact that Dad wasn't here again but different because we had my mom and brother over at our house for the first time for Thanksgiving. 

But never mind that. The thing that I wanted to be sure to write about was how my mom asked if I remember picking things up on the beach when I was little in Hawaii.

"Like seashells?" I asked, because obviously I did that a lot and any time I went to the beach all my life. 

"What about other things, like seaweed?" she went on, almost like she was thinking carefully.

I exclaimed rather quickly, "Oh yeah, because I was wanting to make an aquarium in the bathtub!" I distinctly remember how proud I was of myself for coming up with such a genius idea. "I was so certain that you would be so proud of me, too!"

Mom laughed because of this memory. I'm sure she was having flashbacks to when she discovered sand in the bathtub before I could turn the water on to fill up my "aquarium" with seashells and other things I found at the beach.

It wasn't long after that when my brother hopped in the conversation about memories from childhood. He mentioned the time he got his stupid head stuck between the stretching bar and the wall somewhere. Like a moron he says, "I'm pretty sure it was at the apartment, because we were living upstairs..." to which I knew was false, as we never lived upstairs in apartments, but rather on the bottom floor. 

"You mean you didn't do that just once?" I responded, recalling the time he did that at Master Tan's studio.

"Huh?" he acted like he was confused.

"You did that at Master Tan's. I should've just left you there to learn your lesson."

"Oh yeah!" my dumb brother replied, half laughing.

Then I think my mom chimed in, "You sure do remember a lot," and I think she asked how I could remember such details.

"Yeah I have a lot of memories from childhood that are pretty detailed because I remember thinking to myself when I was very little - before I could even write - that I wanted to remember things from childhood so I could write about it," which was totally true. I remember the very moment I had that thought, in fact, as I lay in bed on the first night I recall there being a thunderstorm. I stared at the window, watching the lightning flashes and listening to the rain patter between thunder booms. I told myself to try really hard to remember everything because one day I might not remember. 

My mom was shocked, "Wow! That's a surprisingly deep thought for a child," she replied.

Humorously I responded, "I know - I'm pretty sure I was adopted because I'm so genius." Which was kind of a stab at my brother for not being smart at all.

My husband, Eric, laughed and remarked, "Adopted - you only look exactly like your mom!"

Mom asked if I have wrote down my childhood memories, and I told her yes. I told her how my dream is to write about my life from childhood to adulthood. 

I don't know if I'll ever get around to it, but I'd like to write books for Ian when he is older and include some of those memories - just the good ones - so I can share that part of my life with him.