Every Friday, Da and Mum and I would go out to eat at a restaurant. Then, Mum would go shopping and Da and I would walk around the mall or shopping center. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we'd be by a Barnes and Noble that we'd treat like a library. It was our routine and had been since I could remember.
Some days though I was just tired. I was a cranky kid and it seemed to me that Mum was taking for.ev.er shopping and buying things she probably didn't need. Da would keep me busy by walking with me and pretending to "find" my mom in the crowd.
Well, one day we're walking and Da's been telling me for what seems like hours that the stores are almost closing and we'll be leaving soon. I'm getting antsy to go home. I want to find Mum, get in the car, and fall asleep before we reach the house.
So we're walking and all of a sudden I see her! She's a bit a ways but it's definitely her. She has jeans and a T-shirt, short black hair, and of course shopping bags in her hand. As soon as I see her I run all the way to her, throwing my arms around her legs.
"Mooooooommmmm."
Then, I pull back.
And realize that the woman I have just run to, hugged, and called Mom is NOT my mother. She is someone who upon closer inspection looks pretty much nothing like my mother. My dad is behind me laughing.
I give this poor lady an ugly look, as if it's all her fault I got her and my mother confused, and I storm off in the other direction.
When I reach my dad he's still laughing but I'm too angry to see the humor in it. Eventually we find my mother. I don't want my dad to tell her what happened but I know that by the way she's trying not to laugh he already has.
The sad thing is that I kind of have a feeling this wasn't the only time I mistook a random lady for my mother. As to why it's the first thing about my childhood I remember, I honestly couldn't say. It's probably because my young life was full of embarrassing moments that shaped me and traumatized me into the neurotic thing you see today.
So what's your First Memory?
