30 in 30: Year 3

1991

Dear Little One,

The world is a pretty happening place this year.  The Gulf War ends.  A big piece of Apartheid is South Africa is repealed (the Population Registration Act, which had required racial classification of all South Africans at birth).  President Zachary Taylor, who had the 3rd shortest presidential term to date (492 days, man), is exhumed on the suspicion that he was assassinated by pro-slavery Southerners with arsenic poisoning; spoilers:  it was a GI illness, not arsenic, those crazy conspiracy theorists.  Aung San Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize, while under house arrest (this is going to seem somewhat ironic or hypocritical or something about 20 years down the line). 

Oh - and here's two big ones that will really affect you in years to come:  The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) is released, and Comedy Central launches.  You're too young for console gaming right now, but look forward to hours upon hours of something you will come to affectionately know as "rage quitting".   And you are definitely too young for the raciness of CC, but in the future, this will absolutely be seminal to your sense of humor.  Have fun with that.

Chesterbrook, PA is not exactly what I would call a happening place, but what makes it special is that this is the first time you really start forming memories.  Fragmented at best, but vivid all the same:  waking up in a crib/bed in a dimly lit room, the first rays of sunlight pouring through the windows, a pink crocheted blanket hanging over top, and your sister poking her fingers through the bars playfully.  Thick white snowfalls while you trudge, encumbered by layers and layers of clothing, through the yard, determined to make your way up the hill before you have to come back inside.  And, a black dog the size of Cerberus tearing through your living room, leaving destruction and feces in its wake (it was like a 6 month old puppy, but how would you know). 

Memories are kind of a funny thing.  They are not permanent, and they are often mutable, and yet they make up the people that we become.  Cherish your memories, little one, but do not let them consume you.  You have a lovely, vivid imagination, but this is both a gift and a curse in its own right.  Be not caged by the entanglements of your own mind.  Be open, experience the world, and try to let go every once in a while.

Hearts and Kisses,
You.