My Baby Book



In a effort to do more research on these stories I've been asking my family questions on details that I've forgotten or was fuzzy on. So far no one has gotten suspicious on my sudden interest in family history. I'm sure that if anyone found out what I was doing they would be very upset. Not at the stories in general , but in how they were portrayed. For example Rose would agree with everything written in here , except when it came to her. Geno likewise would agree with anything in here except when it came to him. ( "I'm much cooler then that ", I can almost hear him say.) Mark would simply say ,"Tom bad, computer pretty , brain hurts".
Today I went over to my parents house in a bid to find more things to write about. In my blog I'm about to move my stories to a more unbelievable part of my life. In a effort to be as accurate as possible, I asked my Mom some questions trying not to bring up any of the more sensitive issues. Realizing that I should probable change the subject to something lighter, I asked Mom if I could go through the big brown box she keeps in the closet. It's filled with old photo's , newspaper clippings , reports cards , and old letters. A veritable treasure chest for me to plunder my family history with. Mom agreed I could look as long as I did it there. She didn't want me taking it out of the house.
So for two hours I stayed up in Mom's office ,going though this massive brown box. I soon became lost in memories. I found enough things to write 30 blogs. My Dad meeting with Lane Evans for the first time. My parents sending me off to a summer camp, only for me to find out it was a camp for troubled boys.(much wackiness happens.) My son Ethan's birth announcement. No day was more funny or weird then the day he was born unless it was the day after he born. I found ribbons I had won in 1st grade for reading the most books , and ribbons I had won in high school at art contests.
Then at the bottom of the box I saw it.
Baby's First Book .And written on the book cover "Tommy".
I gasped. What forgotten things would be in my baby book? I gently picked it up and opened it.
I was born at 5.32 a.m. on Dec 1st , during a snow storm.
Ok I already knew that. On the second and third pages it was simply my parents names , and my grandparents names. Nothing new there.
On the fourth and fifth pages were a list of my first visitors and the gifts they brought. I didn't know all that , but nothing I could blog about. On page six my weight until 3 months and the first time I walked (7 months). After that nothing.
No first words.
No favorite toys.
Nothing about my first Christmas or Halloween.
Nothing about my first birthday.
No memories at all.
I marched downstairs to the kitchen where Mom was.
"Hey Mom what was my first word?"
Mom leaned back in her kitchen chair. She looked lost in thought for a moment."Well I don't remember."
"What did I get for my first Christmas gifts?"
"I don't know." She said
"What did I dress up as for my first Halloween?"
"I don't remember,"she said more then a little agitated.
"Well maybe you would if you had finished this!" I tossed the book on the table. Mom picked it up.
" Oh look at that. Your first baby book."
" My first EMPTY baby book. Why didn't you finish it?"
" You were our fifth child. It just wasn't that important anymore. Something was always going on. I just never had the time."
Not important? Never had the time? I was getting a little ticked off here. These were my childhood memories after all that no one seemed to have the time to record.
"Ok", I said. " Anything going on now?"
"What?' Mom looked confused.
"Finish my book. I'll give you until Friday."
Mom was clearly not getting into the spirit of the thing."I don't remember any of this."
" Well neither do I. Make it up. I'll never know."
With that I walked out of the house. I sincerly doubt that Mom will even start on it. But it'll be good for her to sweat about it for a couple of days.
The moral of this story?
If you have a baby book, finish it before your 38 year old child comes storming down the stairs wanting to know who stole his baby memories.