November 24th, 1973 was a beautiful day in the small community of Hamilton, Victoria, Australia. The weather was perfect and I was never hungry. I couldn't have asked for more.

8:36am rolled around and that all changed. Pain riddled through my body from head to foot. Dry air burst into my lungs burning them and I screamed as bright lights burned my eyes. People passed me around like I was some kind of baby.

That was the moment of my birth. And I still remember.

When I was younger it surprised me that most others don't remember the time they entered the world; I can't relate to others who's memories begin at four or five or six. I remember the beginning.

I remember laying on a crib not being able to sit up, much less roll over. I staired through the bars of my crib out the window at the moon and screamed in loneliness and frustration. I remember being one or two and being lifted up by my dad onto a wooden fence so I could pet a kangaroo. I remember the sheep we had pastured in our back yard and the grandchild clock that was laying on my parents bed one day.

I remember being three. My parents, older sister, younger brother, and I moved to Spokane, Washington. I was standing in front of the house playing when my sister came out and announced she, our mother, and I, were going to the store. But I didn't want to go to the damn mall so like any stubborn three year old I lifted a large chunk of broken concrete I'd found up into the air and said, "I don't want to go!" I threw it up and it surely came back down hitting me square in the forehead.

I did not have to go to the mall.

I spent that afternoon at the hospital. I remember being carried and looking at the Snoopy posters hanging on the walls wondering what we were doing. Then we entered the room and a doctor looked at my head and scared, I pushed him away and finally had to be restrained. I did not like being prodded without explanation. I was small but I was strong. I remember kicking and hitting and as my mom tells it screaming, "You'd better watch it! I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get you!"

To me this is the story about how I discovered gravity. To my mother it's a humorous tale of a vibrant three year old getting a little out of hand.

Though we see things from our own unique perspective it could be said that what brings us together in this life is as simple as laughter and gravity.

 

More to come...