#1- A Day Containing Your Earliest Memory

Hello all!

It's Maria, bringing you another 30 Days challenge. Seems like I just did one but according to Blogger, it's been a year and a half. Okay, we'll go with that. 

Anyway, I'm supposed to write about a day that contains my earliest memory. This is kind of hard because I have a lot of bits and pieces of early memories but nothing that jumps out at me as special. I guess I'll talk about a Saturday spent with my dad when I was around 5. Some of you may know this story but for creative purposes, let's say you don't, okay?


I remember this one Saturday in the summer. I was about 5 years old and my mom was a nurse that worked nights, so my dad decided that he and I would just hang out for the whole day. First, we went to Howard Johnson's (who had the best damn pancakes in VA, in my opinion) and just sat there and talked about absolutely nothing. I mean, how much conversation skills could a 5 year old have...especially when they had a place mat that you could color. After that, it was on to the obligatory trip to the barber shop, where anybody who was anybody hung out and no self-respecting 5 year old girl had any business. I learned a lot from those cats that day. What, you say? I have no damn idea but suffice it to say, I listened to every word.

Then my dad decided that it was time to have a little fun. So he took me to a basketball court on Cool Lane in Richmond. He gets out, grabs his ABA red, white and blue ball and proceeds to try and show some younger dudes how it was supposed to be done. My dad was a HUGE Dr. J fan but at 5'8, wasn't dunking on much of anything. But he actually did some moves that were fairly impressive...took it through the legs while in mid-air and put the ball up, for one. But hell, I was 5. Didn't take much to impress me...he was my dad and could do no wrong. 

After the b-ball court, there was a bowling alley also on Cool Lane and he took me bowling. Now, this was the days before bumpers, so I sucked. But it wasn't about winning or even knocking down pins. It was about being with the most important man in my life. 

So that is a day containing one of my earliest memories. The Howard Johnson's, basketball court and bowling alley are all gone now but every so often, the feeling of that day still enters my heart.