My first memory is of being carried down the street in Korea to a food stand on the sidewalk. We were there to buy milk. It was in a little container about the size of a yogurt cup. The outside of the paper was crimped, not smooth, and it had a tinfoil lid that we poked a straw through. The milk was sweet.
I remember standing in a circle on the dirt while my cousins showed me a toy. It was a wooden camel on wheels and its humps were two egg-shaped pieces of wood that rocked when you pulled the camel.
My grandmother carrying me around on her back through an alley in Korea. I had a coin in my hand (Mom said one of my uncles gave me a coin whenever he saw me.) and I would take it and poke it at the mortar between the wall’s bricks whenever Grandmother stopped walking. The mortar was crumbly and fell apart when I poked it.
This was all right around the time I turned two. My mother and I went to Korea two months before I turned two and stayed for six months.
It’s funny how I can remember these things but things that happened later in my life are blurry.
When I was in the 7th grade, I met the girl who would be my best friend for the next 3 years. The way I remember it, we were friends until she moved when we were in the 10th grade. I do remember that at one point her parents wouldn’t let her spend the night at my house because they said my dad drank too much. But I didn’t remember that interfering with us being friends at school or me going to her house.
Years later after we were grown and moved away from home, we got together and she apologized for the horrible way our friendship ended because of her parents. She was really relieved when I didn’t remember her version of events. I guess my mind just glossed over the bad and kept the good.
I seem to have lost my knack for forgetting as I’ve gotten older. I can remember in detail the shitty messages that Husband’s exwife has relayed over the past decade. I’d probably be happier if I could forget.
I remember standing in a circle on the dirt while my cousins showed me a toy. It was a wooden camel on wheels and its humps were two egg-shaped pieces of wood that rocked when you pulled the camel.
My grandmother carrying me around on her back through an alley in Korea. I had a coin in my hand (Mom said one of my uncles gave me a coin whenever he saw me.) and I would take it and poke it at the mortar between the wall’s bricks whenever Grandmother stopped walking. The mortar was crumbly and fell apart when I poked it.
This was all right around the time I turned two. My mother and I went to Korea two months before I turned two and stayed for six months.
It’s funny how I can remember these things but things that happened later in my life are blurry.
When I was in the 7th grade, I met the girl who would be my best friend for the next 3 years. The way I remember it, we were friends until she moved when we were in the 10th grade. I do remember that at one point her parents wouldn’t let her spend the night at my house because they said my dad drank too much. But I didn’t remember that interfering with us being friends at school or me going to her house.
Years later after we were grown and moved away from home, we got together and she apologized for the horrible way our friendship ended because of her parents. She was really relieved when I didn’t remember her version of events. I guess my mind just glossed over the bad and kept the good.
I seem to have lost my knack for forgetting as I’ve gotten older. I can remember in detail the shitty messages that Husband’s exwife has relayed over the past decade. I’d probably be happier if I could forget.
Posts
4 comments:
I may not have been there, but I can see how you were carried on your grandma's back. The baby's Godmother is Korean, and she would always tie him to her back and go about her business with him happy as can be!
I think it is very interesting that you can remember things that far back. Very cool.
Sometimes I think our brains make us forget a lot of the bad things that happen to us, to keep us from pain.
I can picture you sticking that coin in the wall.
This is so fascinating, you always have the most interesting stories. I know what you mean about other things being blurry, too. I also think you haven't changed much from the little girl sticking a coin in the wall. ;)
Post a Comment