We moved out of our apartment into my parents first home together in New Hampshire. It was the coolest house because it had an unfinished basement with a swing set in it! I remember playing with blocks for hours in the living room, watching cartoons with Dad on Saturday (which was a special treat because he let us eat breakfast on the couch)!
I had a dream in this house of being caught up for the Second Coming. As I was being lifted in the air, I grabbed my brother in one hand, and my rocking horse in the other. As weird as it may sound I'm shocked that my parents were able to convey enough of the Second Coming to me to have that kind of an understanding to produce that kind of a dream.
One day I was out bouncing a ball on our balcony, when two bees just stung me out of nowhere! I was confided to the couch while my Mom slathered a mixture of baking soda and water on the infected area. I was so upset that I had to sit and watch TV while Mike got to be playing outside. It just wasn't fair.
Some of my first memories were of the woods behind our house in New Hampshire. I remember playing with Jeffry and Nate, the neighbors. We would make up games and play for hours at a time. I was always embarrassed because they would pee outside right in front of me and mom had taught us that wasn't ok. But we were still friends. Kids are so easy going, sometimes I wish all of life was that way.
One time in particular Jeffrey, Nate, Mike and I were out in the woods and we found a huge green snake. Huge for a 4 year old that is. We used a stick to trap it, and got a brown paper grocery bag to keep it in. We played with it in that bag for hours, but eventually Mike and I had to go home. We also caught frogs and bright orange newts and putting them in Tupperware containers for safe keeping. We never could figure out why they kept dyeing, but it was always fun to catch them and keep them around for a little while.
One Saturday I built a huge bonfire with my mom and dad. We gathered dead branches, and leaves for burning. In the process I came across a snake with black diamonds on it's back. Mom was concerned because it was poisonous, so she called my dad to take care of it.
There was a big rock in the back yard of our house, and I just loved to sit in the warm sun with my shoes off and just let it all soak in. With nothing more on my mind than what game we were going to play next, if the raspberries in the woods were ripe or not, and what Saturday morning cartoons would be new, life was pretty great!
With all the playing, animal animal capturing, and raspberry picking we did get into a bit of trouble from time to time. The most traumatic experience was when I lost Mike in the woods. We were out exploring as always and some how Mike fell into a HUGE (for a 4 and 2 year old) pit. I couldn't figure out how to get him out, so I ran home to get help from Mom and Dad.
By the time I figured out how to get home I had forgotten how to get back to Mike. Unfortunately lack of direction is a fault that has plagued me for my whole life. I tried to figure out where Mike had been lost, but it was really beyond my skills. Dad wondered around in the woods until he stumbled upon Mike's hole, while Mom made me some hot chocolate.
Fortunately Mike was fine, and everything worked out. Mike remembers begrudging walking back into the house to find me drinking hot chocolate out of his favorite mug, but no physical damage was caused.
January 11th 1986 Sheila Toy Brown was born to our family. Dad had wanted to name me Sheila, and again before they knew Mike was a boy wanted to name him Sheila, and finally with their third child Mom gave in and let her take on her name. My parents were extremely shocked to find out they were pregnant 9 months after Mike was born (making Mike and Sheila 18 months apart)! Mom has said the only way she was able to handle 3 kids that close was because Sheila was such a great baby. She loved taking naps and didn't cry much.
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