Things I Remember:
My first memory was my father teaching me to tie my shoes at three years old. I remember after successfully tying my shoe I ran into the house to show my mother what I had accomplished.
At age four I remember there was a poster of Queensryche on my paneled, bedroom wall and I refused to change my clothes in my room because I felt like they were watching me.
I remember hearing the Barberton Speedway loudly at night.
I recall one time I was playing outside our trailer near a swing set that my dad was building but never finished. Over at the next house there were two huge, black dogs that appeared to be the size of horses that were digging through the neighbor’s trash. I was petrified with fear and quickly ran to my trailer before they could see or chase me.
One day, a tire plant that was not a mile from our trailer park was consumed with fire. I didn’t know what was going on until I left my friend’s house and walked down the street to mine. The smoke filled my nostrils and I looked up to see where the smell was originating. The sky was black and was raining little black ashes all over me and the ground. Upon noticing this I looked at the bottom of my bare feet and they were completely black. I raced home to my mom, afraid of what was happening outside that I didn’t understand.
I don’t remember stealing a gummy worm from the store. I remember standing outside the car while Mom went inside and my dad yelled at me and explained why stealing was wrong. He took the gummy worm and threw it into the street. I can vividly remember seeing the brightly-colored gummy worm covered in cinders.
A few times my dad and I took a kite to fly out behind the trailer park where there was an open lot. I remember the wind, the cold and seeing the red, yellow, black and orange kite hovering in the blue sky.
Back then I had to ask my parents for the rare privilege to drink a Coke. That didn’t stop me from sneaking drinks of theirs when they weren’t looking. On this particularly memorable time, Dad had used his near-empty Coke can for an ashtray. It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever tasted.
I enjoyed the company of our elderly neighbors so one Saturday morning I left the house to go over to their trailer and see them. My parents were still asleep and had no idea where I had gone. That was the day I learned not to go anywhere without telling my parents.
I remember my parents taking me down the street to Dairy Queen where I would always get a chocolate M&M blizzard.
