Prompt #11 Childhood

March

Hi Friends,

Thanks for being here!

Studies have shown that our first memories start to form around age two. For me, that was certainly the case. I spent my second birthday and that fall at our tiny beach cottage in Fire Island, and that’s where my first memory takes place, which is probably why Fire Island still feels like such a special place for me, even though my parents sold the house 40 years ago. It’s a place I keep returning to, if not physically than in my mind.

I’m working on a book project about taking care of my mom when she was dying. In it, I also grapple with the complicated relationship we had (and maybe still continue to have, even though she is gone). So I knew I had to write scenes from our past together. My earliest memory took place with my mother (I’m guessing most first memories take place with one of our primary caregivers) on the beach in Fire Island (pictured below). I don’t yet know if I’ll use the scene in my new book manuscript, but I had to write it, because it’s where everything began—Fire Island, my mother, me. And, in some ways, where everything ended—my sisters and I scattered our parents’