My Earliest Memory

A Toddler's Early Memories

Gorilla 2

I have early memories from about the age of 18 to 24 months. It may have actually been somewhat younger, as I was still using a pacifier, as many today call it a binky.



I remember playing hide and seek in our house with my older sister, and falling down the steps leading to our basement in one home we lived at in Hamilton, Ohio. I still have the lump on my forehead from banging my head on the concrete basement floor. I remember that we lived on Heaton Street in Hamilton at the time.



I can still see several cousins and my older sister, and myself taking turns with roller skates. Then they were the kind that you used key to tighten them onto the sole of your shoes. There apparently was only one or two pairs skates, so we all used only one at at time, so the others could also skate.



That is one of my most cherished memories, because my dear cousin Jerry and his family were visiting from California. Jerry always looked out for me, to be sure the older kids weren't too rough or knock me down in their enthusiasm to do their own skating. Even though Jerry was only two years older than I, he was so kind, and helpful to his younger cousin, me.



Jerry only lived to be eight years old, as he died as the result of damage to his lungs, when he accidentally set himself on fire, playing with matches and gasoline that he found in their garage on Easter Sunday 1951.



I clearly recall visiting my father's older sister, Edith who lived in Cincinnati. We young ones always thought her very odd, as no matter what the weather outside was doing, Aunt Edith always had her living room windows wide open, even in Ohio's cold, and snowy winters.



I recall during one visit to her home, when her son and I went to some local store, and on the way back, he stuck a fire cracker under a can alongside the road, just to watch it blowup and startle the passing motorists. Even then, I knew he was not going to turn out well, and he didn't.



I remember once my Dad and I were out taking care of some things he needed to attend to, and there was a carnival in town. They had a Gorilla that smoked cigars, and also had a black Panther in a cage. I also recall feeling upset that those uncaring men would give that cigar to the gorilla, as even then, I had enough sense to realize it couldn't be good for him.



The Panther barely had room to turn around, and that also bothered me.