1981 turns out is interesting for different reasons. As I assembled my sections for the website version of my write up, it was blank. Now that doesn’t mean nothing happened  during a whole calendar year of my youth. It’s just an example of how I have no real idea how to date my memories from being three.

Looking at pictures I definitely can remember things in my brain. The green tomatoes story, very well could be here, or 1982, or 1980, the three years from 1980 to 1983, before kindergarten started when life was mainly at home, some pre-school and running around with Melanie is all sort of timelessly this period.

So in this case I only have pictures Mom dated to know what happened when, and then speculation from my brains. Unfortunately Mom and Dad, who would be the experts on this era of my life aren’t available for comment and I think didn’t ever write down these times in any chronological manner. It is what it is, I guess.

Above, I have one completely dateable event. Melanie and my third birthday. This is an event I don’t really remember though. In other pictures from the party I see some of the same guests that other birthdays had around then, thus making it even harder. For the most part I remember the cakes, the train cake, the Hoth ice planet cake. The castle, while mom’s pictures seem to show she was proud of this one, I don’t remember this one.

However there is a key thing that probably happened this year, or I am pretty sure, and that is seeing Star Wars for the first time. Now I know the timeline might be skewed, But I can’t believe I saw it in 1980 and remembered it so well, So I have always worked under the assumption that Dad and I went to some discount matinee or re release of Empire Strikes Back this year after seeing the first film. This though will be covered in my Star Wars section. Which I will link here in a bit.

The next picture is from summer vacation, which according to Mom was at Lassen. At this point we can see the kid I am going to be starting to emerge. They’ve got me dressed in a football t-shirt and am pretty camera aware. I have a picture of me with Dad months prior at his Sacramento City College graduation where I am saluting mom as she snaps the picture, so I’ve definitely started to become more than just a loud toddler at this point.

I also chose to highlight this picture because that little ice chest Dad is holding in the picture lasted until like the 2000s and might have even been used my Mom and Dad in Dad’s green pickup truck for camping as late as like 2004. That thing made cross country trips, and just survived forever.

That raiders shirt managed to live into pre-school, which probably started in 81-82. I remember going to a lot of pre-school and at different locations, so I probably rolled the 81-82 school year and the 82-83 at a couple local locations. The above picture I think is Davis Parent Nursery school, but the only thing I am going on is the blocks and I think that’s where I remember those existing. The only reason I am not sure is I remember a large, blue carpet that we did activities on in the front of the room and this looks like maybe its all tile, but that could also be the angel of things.

On a football note, it is pretty interesting that I have the Oakland Raiders shirt here, because the Raider’s would leave the Bay in 1982, opening the door probably for Dad to watch the Niner games and switch the course of the football fan they were trying to make.

The biggest stand out though from this time, is that this year and the next Melanie and I spent a lot of time playing either at the L street house, or the Apartment Cindy moved into with Rich in Sacramento.

There was a section of wall in the L street house with paintings/drawings by all the kids. My siblings all being older had some nice examples up, it would have been around this time that I would have added my masterpiece to the wall as well. Mine however was markers on paper, done at the apartment in Sacramento, and I can remember was of some guy. Of course, my guy back then was some rectangular headed individual.

My square head phase when I was little, was an actual art style I remember refreshing, I somehow knew they were inaccurate and just decided that’s what the guys where, square heads. And that stuck with me forever. So my early years in art is my square head period.