Welcome to my version of #ThrowBackThursday, a dive into the past 32 years that made me who I am today. To find out EXACTLY what this is, click here and read the explanation. Otherwise, let's dive into it!
My earliest memories are fuzzy at best. Sometimes I wonder if they're even memories at all. Maybe they are just stories that I've remembered hearing throughout the years while looking at a photograph. You know what I'm talking about.
"Katie, look at you there licking the TV. You'd always get so excited for ice cream commercials." Or, "Katie, look at you with that paper bag on your head. Don't you remember? Your daddy would always make you hats out of paper bags."
Sure, I remember. At least I think I do. After all, I was only 1 or so. Of course I remember licking the TV...
I remember running through my house, dragging a pink rotary princess phone behind me, creating chaos in my wake. I remember each purposeful, noisy stomp of my tiny toddler feet. I remembering them echoing off the halls, and each scrape of the Pepto pink plastic on the cold kitchen tile floor as I raced through. I remember the paper bag slipping from the top of my head, floating delicately to the floor.
I remember watching my mom prepare our dinner while wearing the highest of high heels after a long day as a business executive. I remember my dad watching TV in the comfy spot with another one of the cats nestled deeply into the crevice between his leg and the cushion. I remember his hand resting in the soft, orange fur. I remember the smells. I remember the feeling of falling into my big poster bed as a tiny little thing. I was way too small for such a huge bed. But I loved it. I remember my mom lining the sides of the bed with pillows so I wouldn't fall out ever again. I remember pretending I was drifting away to another world, a world of unicorns and fairies and pirates and a world where Mr. Bunny, my stuffed bunny, and I could conquer and rule using our expert karate skills. I remember my mom gently rubbing my back as my world faded to black, and I drifted peacefully to sleep. I remember.
Or do I?
I want to remember the good and forget the bad. Isn't that the way we all are? But to forget the bad would be to forget what made us who we are. Iron sharpens iron, so too our past created the person that we've become.
