Sincerely, Cindy: Earliest Childhood Memory

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What is your earliest childhood memory? According to the psychologists and other experts on this topic, it is three and a half years old. If this is true, then I am pretty average. I came across a picture many years ago that triggered my earliest childhood memory. In this picture, I was sitting on the edge of a pool dangling my feet in the water. It was one of those old black and white photos from either an Automatic 100 Land Camera or an old Polaroid Swinger camera. It was our first family vacation and we were attending a fancy family wedding in Lansing, Michigan. I have zero recollection of the fancy wedding but I sure do remember that pool and way I loved the warm sun dancing on my skin. This must be the reason I will use any excuse today to go to the pool or get out on the lake whenever the temperature is 75 or above. If it’s below 70 degrees, I will have on a jacket or coat. I don’t do cold. Right now, I have a house project going on where I am framing and hanging family pictures to cover the walls in the living room. I do not have an eye for hanging pictures or choosing frames so I am certain these walls will drive my youngest daughter to distraction when she comes over for a visit. She is a registered nurse by profession and paints on the side. She does a lot of commission work and is most particular about her work. She will take one look at my wall, take pity on me and fix my mess. I made sure to use the Velcro tabs to hang everything so the pictures can easily be moved. Problem solved. While deciding which pictures to hang and which ones to put into an old fashioned album, one picture in particular brought happy memories flooding back. When I was about 12, we got a dog that we named Cayenne. She was a rescue Siberian Husky that had gotten hit by a train; the bond between us was instant. She was deaf and obviously didn’t mind my incessant chatter all the time. We would run circles through the house and then she would plop down on a latch hook rug in front of the fireplace to recuperate. I sure did love that dog. My rescue dog I have now reminds me of her but, I digress… I think I am going to pick up the phone and call my mom tonight so we can talk about Cayenne and other beautiful memories from the past. I love you, mom. Sincerely, Cindy