Memory

What is your first childhood memory? I remember my dad and I walking downtown at dark looking for night crawlers. I remember crawling over insulation in an upstairs, unfinished room in our house to get to the front window. And chasing my mom to the bus stop when she left for work. I remember having water fights with my sister which, for the record, were completely unfair since she is six years older than me and she always got the water hose and I got a honey bear full of water. I know, right? Well, come to think of it those all took place down in our Front Street house and I must have been about five.

Last week when Raine (my besty) was here she was asking Aidan questions about her old apartment. When I got divorced she and I lived in the same complex, she had a grass back patio and I had a balcony. Aidan spent many days over at her apartment rolling around in the grass and playing in the sprinklers. We were telling him stories about it and he really had no memory of it at all, other than her pig with wings who was named Chauncey. He would have been three at the time so maybe it isn't such a shock. We laughed as we told him stories about what he said, like the time Raine told him he was so literal and he turned around and told her she was sooooo big (he thought she said little). And stories about what he did, like the time the sprinklers were on and he sat on them and then drank out of them and we all laughed for hours.

I have been thinking about that conversation for more than a week. I have always wondered if Aidan will remember anything before the divorce or during the divorce. But, if Aidan doesn't remember any of those stories, chances are he doesn't remember much else before that time. And that is a good thing, for me and for him. That means he doesn't remember the turmoil. The fighting, the yelling, the crying and the sadness. God spared him and for that I am thankful. So very thankful.