Oreo was the mean cat, Tigger was the nice one. Oreo would spend most of his time outside sleeping on the stone bench in our backyard and would only come in at night to sleep with my mom. Oreo hated kids, which I hated as a kid.

My mom loved to bake cakes, especially if they could be themed. This also trickled down into having themed birthday parties. I can’t decide if the parties stopped happening because my mom got locked up or because we grew out of them

My Aunt Sue lived right next to a community pool. My dad would send my brother and I to stay with her in Chicago during the summer where we would spend most days either at the pool or at the library where my aunt worked. At the pool I would buy a soft pretzel with cheese for $1.25 and wait for adult swim to be over

Michael Kerns was a close friend of my brother during pre school. I stopped seeing Michael as often and assumed it was because we went to different schools after pre school. I learned later that Michael’s mom didn’t want her child hanging out with kids whose mom was in prison. 

The living room of my childhood home, 1992 S Windsor St, had a fireplace flanked by two identical bookshelves. I learned that there had originally only been one but my mom and dad wanted a matching set when they moved into this larger house. The company they bought the original from no longer carried that color so my dad had to stain it himself to match