My Earliest Memory

From the time I was born until I was almost three, my family and I resided on Lummi Island, a beautiful island off the coast of Bellingham, Washington. There were a close knit group of infants and toddlers living on the island when we lived there, and once or twice a week a different parent would care for a few of the children besides their own.

A lot of the time, I would go to my friend Shana's house while my mom ran errands and such. At the time, Shana and I were very much into baby dolls, bottles, and teddy bears, and Shana always had the best baby toys. She had a real pacifier, a bottle with cows on it, lots of dolls, and my favorite; a pink teddy bear that played music. I always wanted to play with the pink teddy bear, but she always told me that it was her "special" toy and I couldn't play with it. I distinctly remember her mom having to carry her off kicking and screaming because she wouldn't share her teddy bear with me. Whenever I get to see Shana, we always laugh about this incident, and to this day, she still has her special pink teddy bear.