.

I don't remember birthday #1 - My older siblings and parents may have, but my personal memories date from a much later year as trauma and fears started writing on my brain with their indelible pen.

Oak Park memories include a few non-mentionable items, but mostly innocent fragments like getting chased by dad between the picket-fenced yards, seeing our dead fair-toss-game-won duck in the backyard, riding a bike off the corner cliff and crashing, kissing Lukey Stokke, and other assorted glimpses of growing up around zillions of neighbor kids.

I'm really thankful for the vintage photos that captured a childhood that my memory has forgotten.