things i remember, sometimes

my first memories are from when i was around 3 yrs old. i don't remember everything from that time, but i have windows that open now and again from ages 3-5. some of what i might remember....

the apartment in which my mother, father and i lived. it was big, but shoddy and in a really weird naked place in a lousy town. i don't remember all of the rooms though. in the front of the house (which i now think faced east) there was a bedroom to the left, my parents room. To the right another room which seemed like a sort of sitting/sun room, that contained a narrow, white, 50's styled table. i have one distinct memory of my mother feeding my brother in that room and it was blindingly sunny and she was laughing. i remember the living room, which was west of the two front rooms. twirling in circles on the linty rug until i felt really, really sick. i remember watching tv on the couch and listening to the radio in there. i remember one visit when my grandmother was there visiting and how they laughed so hard at me when i told them that i had found something black in my ear and had eaten it. just west of the living room was the kitchen. it was large but a little on the dark side. just to the southside of the kitchen was another small bedroom. i think sean and i shared it. i know he slept in there. funny i don't remember about me or where i slept.

we had at least one pet bird. it got out and was flying all around the apartment. i think it flew out an open window and my father looked for it, but never found it. we may have gotten another.

one day, my grandfather took me fishing in a park that i can't remember the name of. we had gone to woolworths first and purchased an orange colored kids fishing pole. i caught a fish. it was ugly and brownish. we put it in a bucket and carried it home. it was behaving very sluggishly when we got home. he put me down for a nap, and when i awoke, i ran to see my new pet. he wasn't in the bucket anymore. my grandfather told me that while i was asleep, the fish was crying and had asked to be returned to the pond to see his friends and family, so he brought him back to the place he belonged. i cried.

i remember the day that my brother was born. it was sunny and warm. i went with my dad and maybe someone else in a big tannish colored car to pick him up at griffen hospital in the morning. he got into the back seat, and i think he was in my moms lap. i think someone took me for ice cream later that day.

i remember walking with my mom and my brother in his stroller down a big hill to a place to get my vaccinations. it hurt and left a big round mark that i don't have anymore, but had all through elementary school.

once we were in a grocery store and my mom was short of money to cover the total. she was so embarassed as she had to remove items from the cart. i was unplussed until i saw the look this young man gave me. it was a look of pity which i did not know then, but suddenly i felt bad too.

i remember people coming over to our house to visit a lot. there seemed to be someone there in the afternoon all the time. but in the morning, it was just me and my mom. and then, me and my mom and my brother. my dad always had 2 or 3 jobs and never seemed to be around, especially this early in my life.