This is me, the wife. I set this up for Mark, the love of my life. He needs a platform. He cares. He has lots to say and spends most of his waking hours thinking of things to help people, himself, the planet ... oh, i could go on. But I'll let him, instead.
Go for it, Mark!!!!
Hello World,
ReplyDeleteMark Welsh here.
My first memory..... I am 3. I am walking down a street. The last street of a new development in a 1950's track housing project. I am only two street in from the main road in a small 200 year old town in south jersey. Gibbsboro, a vanishing rural area that is quietly famous for two things. One is , it is home to a very old paint manufacturing factory that is directly across the street from the only bar and gas station in town. that it is populated daily by the towns workers and my father, a bricklayer who is slowly going insane from PTSS brought on by horrific war experiences. The other thing the town is famous for, will not happen for about 30 years, becoming one of the most notorious Superfund sights of toxic waste hell that a posh development will be built upon.
For now, I am 3 and walking down a very wind swept street with bigger kids and older siblings. It is a warm balmy day, I am guessing spring. The dust and dirt in the air is so thick and beautiful I am mesmerized by what feel mysterious and overpoweringly atmospheric. Everything feels and look otherworldly, and I feel that way, yet I have no idea why I should feel so. I am only three. The dust and dirt are blowing in from the extensive construction area that the rest of the houses are being built upon. Everything is obscured and hidden. I love the whole feel of the moment. I am walking along.... and I realize something ....profoundly....I am remembering things. I actually realize I am remembering things, and I am aware of myself doing so. How strange is this place. .. I am 3.
MW
So,
ReplyDeleteI am beginning to realize I have memories and that this is a new component to my being here on this world. Interesting. I guess looking back, it's similar to how our atmosphere developed. Micro organisms that evolved in the oceans, sought out food, consumed food, and then , expelled gas, or oxygen. These creatures, along with billions of other simple processes produced gases that basically, remained in the oceans until they reached a criticle saturation point, and then the gasses began popping out if the water , drifting upwards till our breathable air came into being. I am guessing my thought processes were similar. My little brain , processing information and experiences in the little area we humans only use, storing billions of bits of recorded data till enough is stored to create memories that begin to roam around like segments of events that have a kind of existance of their own that can be and feel as real as the reality ocurring outside one's head, and you notice yourself, noticing. I wonder if it is that simple. More importantly, I wondered and could experience wondering, or the ability to ponder, and feel a sense of wonder about it. HEre we all are , existing, what a delight,for the most part. Then, there is pain and suffering, which is yet to come. Not that I imagined there was no pain as later in life I will remember being born, and that was painful. But having pain and suffering, without the skills to cope with it, not passed on by caring family . That was hell.