Day ten - The suburbs

Yesterday I wrote about two places I lived in when I was very young, though I have little to no recollection of ever having lived there; as I dredged up those memories yesterday, I also recalled one time when I was very young - I'd say this was in the same time frame as that memory of me rollerskating. In this memory, I was - possibly - getting out of a car in the street where I to this day live, my maternal grandparents's house. I seem to recall holding what in my recollection was a huge clear plastic bag filled up with tiny plastic toys - spaceships, or cars, or some sort of vehicle or the other. They'd be made up of blue and white parts, with orange windows, and here and there in my adult life I've seen these very toys being sold, but I never had the inclination to get any for myself.

Where all these toys came from, and what their purpose was, I guess I'll never know. My older brother, three years my senior, seems to remember that our parents had a shop - though he recalls it being a tiny place that sold clothes and suchlike. So why we would be carrying all those toys is a mistery to me.

What I can remember more clearly is about from 4 years old or so onwards - as my birthday is in august, all my memories of my early birthdays involve the summer. One in particular, and I want to say it was my fourth birthday, or maybe my fifth at the latest, we were already living in that place where we lived in until the end of my fourth grade, I guess '87. So this memory might have occured in either '81 or '82... but as I was so wont to do then, I fell asleep on the couch we had in our living room, and I woke up with the early sun, already warm, pouring through the blinds. Under my pillow, I found my first birthday gift - a set containing plastic construction or DIY tools : a hammer, a screwdriver or two, probably something else I can't recall. But I do remember that back then all sorts of tools fascinated me, and so, maybe with my safety in mind, my parents procured this set for me. I remember being so incredibly happy - you know, that childlike happiness you rarely will ever feel in your life. I felt loved, and this was something I didn't feel many times as a kid, as I shall explain in more detail in the near future. My mind wants to tell me that there may be a memory associated with a birthday party, but it's not quite clear to me if it pertains to that particular birthday or not.

But the most important thing is that it's in this house that my memories of my self and my family truly begin. This house where we'd spend the next few years of our lives would prove to be very important, though probably not in mays many can imagine.