Chicken Pox

When I was 3, my brother was in 1st grade and he got chicken pox. An older neighbor of ours watched my brother while my parents went to work. When I got the chicken pox shortly after my brother, my mom drove me to her parents' house 2 hours away. I spent a week with them. My grandparents moved to Florida before I turned 4. I'd see them every 4 or 5 years when they came to visit other relatives. I spent more time with my grandparents during that week I was sick than I did the rest of their lives combined.

It was last year when I finally got to visit my Grandma in Florida. I had feeling I wouldn't see her again if I didn't. She died a couple months later.

Daycare

In addition to my memories of various movies, I vaguely recall going to day care. My parents taught so they both had jobs. I have an older brother and I remember we'd play with our Star Wars toys or our Lego sets. Day care was my first experience of being alone. Sure there were other kids that were dumped there but I didn't have my brother. I don't recall having any friends in day care. I played and stuff with other kids, but only kids I remember names were black.
I went to 2 different day cares. One was called "King's Daughters" while the other was started by women from "King's Daughters." KD was like a school with a cafeteria while the other met in a church. I was at the second place when I turned 4, and I brought in Little Debbie Peanut Butter Bars as a treat.
I was a high maintenance child in that I needed attention because I had to have the cot that was blue while everyone else had green, or I had a green cot and they had the blue... I forget. I had a section that I claimed as my area to do exercises when we did them. I had my favorite caregiver and I think she liked me too.
I think my dad would pick me up. I know one time my brother was with whomever and he teased me that he got to watch Speed Racer and I didn't.

Movies

I have a lot of early memories. I remember seeing The Empire Strikes Back in the theater. The theater had a display of all the action figures from the Hoth scenes behind glass where the concessions were. I remember sitting next to my dad on his left. I remember being excited when Darth Vader first appears in the snow caves and my dad shushing me.
Evidently, I knew the plot before it unfolded and was ruining it. Hard to believe I was still a few months shy of my second birthday, but the film came out in the summer of 1980.
I remember seeing Bambi, E.T., and The Wrath of Khan all before turning 4.

Birth

As best as I can recall, I didn't ask to be born, I just happened, so it would seem.
Childhood is a horrorshow. I hated it, or I hate thinking about it now, at least. Good stuff vaguely resonates in my memories. There's  a lot of garbage. No control is the best way to describe it. Boredom. Too much boredom. Time to kill and nothing to do, it seemed. TV wasteland was my drug or means of coping. Sad to think of the wasted years of neglect I did to my mind and such. Being raised by alcoholic types does wonders for kids, I hear. My parents just were numb and lazy sort. Lots of boredom came from the subdued nature of their nurture. My son says I should write about my childhood. If he only knew the horror.

Laurence Sterne

Many years ago, I attempted to write towards a novel but realized I lacked worldly experience and gave myself ten years to complete the endeavour. That was 19 years ago and I stalled about 16 years ago. I might be able to get it together and do something by year 20, but I don't know if I have anything worthwhile in me to narrate to less than captive audience.