Papa Stories

I wrote 24 “Papa Stories” (darfts) for the grandkids about my life until the age of 12. Here is part of the first story.

… my first memories are not mine, but stories I have had told to me many times by my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents. I was born at Scotts Air Force base in Belleville, Illinois and according to my parents I cost them one roll of dimes, one roll of nickels and three rolls of pennies. I was told I didn’t walk until I was 18 months old and even then I would “slip over a cigarette paper” as a toddler. Even now if one of my aunts or uncles see me they might grin and say to me “Yes sir, Sarge,” remembering a time when I was first learning to speak and how I responded to my dad who was in the Army Air Force.

My first personal memory is about a home we lived in on a military base. I remember a room and a screen door that I wanted to go through to reach a court yard that was surrounded with other homes and had a drainage ditch running through it. I also remember my mom and dad talking and my dad was standing in his military uniform. But to be honest I am never sure if it is a real memory or a false memory. Maybe it has been constructed from other peoples stories that I have overheard. That is the problem with memories they can seem so real but not always totally accurate. When I tell my stories, just remember they are my memories as I remember them and I think they are true memories. Do you have a memory from when you were very young? Do you remember some saying you parents always tell you? Have you ever asked them the story behind the saying?