Moleskin 2.1: Birth

I was born in Southern Minnesota during the Kennedy years, son of a schoolteacher and a credit reporter, an only child for as long as I couldn’t remember. They say there is little, if anything, our memories can hold from the first four years, not counting what we acquire from photographs and anecdotes, and yet it is during these first years that we start to recognize our parents for who they are, we pattern ourselves indelibly on their examples and with their help we learn things we never forget: to walk, to use the bathroom, to hold a conversation. I’m pretty sure I became a Democrat in these forgotten years, even if I do not have memories of Kennedy. To this day I will not hesitate to tell you where God’s country can be found, as I have been told often enough by others. And though I do not remember a day without brothers, I know there was a time when I got all of the attention.