First Vivid Memory As A Child

Prompt: My first vivid memory as a child.

I was four years old. Dad was in the Air Force. He, Mom and I lived in Tucson, Arizona. We lived in a one story house that white and it was made out of stucco. It looked like a house that Spanish people and Native Americans lived in. I loved it. We lived by a desert and we had cactus in the back yard. I played with cactus and those cactus prickly thorns hurt my hands. I was lucky I didn't encounter scorpions and those furry tarantulas!. Yuck!

I had a vinyl bear that was yellow and brown with a red ribbon around his neck and a bell. He had big brown eyes with stars around them. It was dark one night and I kept throwing him in the air. I wanted him to land on the moon and the stars. I would have cried if he would have landed there. I can imagine if he did and when the astronauts landed on the moon ten years later, they would have said: "Houston, we have a problem!"

The Spanish neighbors had a grey striped Tabby cat that I wanted but Mom says he belonged to the Spanish people next door. We would feed him, give him milk and he would go home but come over to see us everyday. He would lay on the couch awhile and a few hours later, he would want to go out. We would let him out and he went home to the neighbors. When my grandparents came to visit, we went to a Chapel in the desert and there was another grey striped Tabby cat. He followed us around and I wanted him but Mom said No. He probably had a home. I finally got a grey striped Tabby cat after I was married. My husband and I had her seventeen years but she died of kidney disease. She didn't like anyone except us. We loved her. Now, we have a tortoise shell cat named Bella that we love. She is beautiful and friendly but gets into everything. Back to my vivid memory story.

One time, Dad and I was climbing a hill with big rocks. Dad moved a big rock and he heard a rattling noise! A rattle snake! Dad dropped the rock back on the snake and grabbed me and ran. I hate snakes to this day.

Mom went down town to see the actor Peter Brown. Barry Goldwater was there, too and I wandered away. A big nice man rescued me and told me that I was going to get stepped on or get lost. He picked me up and asked who did I belong to. My mother turned around and said she was my mother and the man handed me over to her. He was Alan Hale, JR. He later played the Skipper on "Gilligan's Island!"

This is my story of when I was four years old and this is what I remember. Thanks for reading.

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