Ok, the OMW for the day is to write about one of our earliest memories. Here, for your amusement.
I was young enough to still be crawling but old enough to be pulling up on things. As far as I can tell, we were at some relatives' home - the carpet was a brown-orange and slightly shaggy. I wanted my daddy but all I could see were shoes and legs. I could hear talking and happy conversation above my head as I attempted to figure out which set of gigantic feet would lead to my father. I thought I chose correctly and crawled over to someone sitting in a wooden chair. I was wrong. As I pulled up on the knees and looked up, the face I saw had a beard - my daddy did not. I started bawling and felt embarrassment for probably the first time as the room burst into laughter around me. After what felt like a significant amount of time, I was handed over to one of my parents.
In retrospect, I'm pretty sure it was my uncle whose lap I ended up in. I'm sure at the time it was adorable but, just goes to show, you never know what kids will remember.
I wonder at times how much of our identity is shaped by moments like these, most of which we probably do not remember, or remember in a different light than actuality.
