Louise and I have been writing a book together about memoir

And we've been doing it in spite of our half-assed selves.  Basically it's a collection of chatty encouragement, models and prompts.  Here's the piece I just revised for our chapter on "The First Memory and Other Firsts."

Ann’s Take on “The First Memory and Other Firsts”

            I think this particular topic (thanks, Louise!) calls for one of my lists.  Don’t you?

First Life Memory:  Riding the Ferris wheel in Liberty Park with my mother, who was pregnant with my brother John at the time.  I loved it!  My mother didn’t!  She made the operator stop the Ferris wheel so we could get off, telling him that her little girl was “scared.”  Shame on you, Mom!

First Time I Saw the Ocean:  I was nine years old.  My parents pulled over to the side of the road in Somewhere Southern California.  Johnny and I stripped to our underwear in the back of the family station wagon and ran shrieking down the sandy hillside so we could dive headfirst into a wall of glittering waves.

First Pet:  A dog.  A wonderful fawn female boxer named Princess—Priny for short.  She was my first best friend.  I can still remember how warm her coat felt against of the palm of my hand on a summer’s day.

First Plane Ride:  I was, to paraphrase Stevie Nicks, on the edge of sixteen.  I flew to Hawaii with my mother and father, who had just been made head coach at BYU, which meant he got to take the glam recruiting trips now.  I threw up on that first flight—either from motion sickness or nerves.  Who can say?

First Kiss:  Timmy Anderson kissed me in my basement behind our couch.  We were both six.

First Proper Kiss:  Gah.  This is so weird, but I don’t remember.  What does this say about me?  (As you can tell, I’m really bothered that I CANNOT REMEMBER!)

First Time I Noticed My Husband:  He was wearing a torn sweatshirt, working on a bicycle at the end of a dark hallway, channeling James Dean.  OF COURSE I WAS INTERESTED.

First Time I Gave Birth:  I said, “Wow.  That pretty much hurt more than I thought it would.”

First Time I Met Louise:  I said, “I want to be her friend.”

First Time I Read LOTR:  I said, “I can’t believe I love a book about guys with hairy feet.  But I do!”

First Time I Tried to Run a Race after Being in Bed for Seven Months During the First Grade:  I came in last.  As in way, way, waaaaaay last.  Our principal, Mr. Glazier, felt so bad for me, he dug into his pocket and gave me a nickel for trying.

First College Football Game:  I was ten.  BYU played the University of Wyoming on TV.  There were ABC (as in the network) pennants festooning the stadium like flags on a castle’s turrets.  My mother made me wear a dress.  Oddly.

First Live Theater Experience: I saw a production of “Camelot” in the DeJong Concert Hall at BYU.  I fell in love with King Arthur and to this day do not understand why Guinevere had a fling with Lancelot.  My mother made me wear a dress.  Not-so-oddly.

First Time I Drove from Provo to Salt Lake by Myself:  I was seventeen.  I made it home alive.  My parents were pleasantly surprised.  And continue to be pleasantly surprised whenever it still happens.