When I was five, we moved to Ogden, Utah. Our first place was an apartment at the intersection of Harrison Blvd and 32nd street. It was a basement apartment. This is the apartment where Dawn was born. Going down the stairs, the door to our apartment was on the left. Once inside the door, the living room was on the left, kitchen on the right, and the hallway to the bedrooms was straight ahead. I'm not sure, but I think we had three bedrooms. The first bedroom on the left was my parents' room, and there was a bathroom across the hall on the right. At the end of the hall there were two more bedrooms, one on each side.
There are a few things I remember from our time here. 1) There was a lady who lived upstairs, who would come out onto her balcony and sing her heart out for everyone to hear. I remember her singing Copa Cabana. 2) There was a Chuck E. Cheese's across the street, and I thought that was so cool. I was pretty little, so I don't know how this came about, but somehow I was with another kid who thought it would be awesome to cross the street and sneak in to CEC's. So we did. We weren't there too long before I, hunched over some game, felt someone grab my arm. I was about to turn around and yell at whoever it was, but it was my Dad, and I was in big trouble. I don't remember my consequence or anything else, just going and getting caught. I'm sure my poor parents were worried sick, and now that I think about it--I wonder how they knew where to find me. 3) I have this picture in my mind of my sister, Celeste, sitting on the counter in the bathroom covered in blood. She had big smiles on her face and was joyfully singing and playing with something. My parents rushed in, and freaked out, because it was a razor she was playing with. !!! Don't ask me how she wasn't screaming, I've had razor cuts before and they are no joke. 4) One day someone knocked on the door, and when we opened it this complete stranger was standing there, acting like we had been expecting him, and like he expected to be let in. It was a bit unnerving. I'm not sure how long the charade went on before my grandparents followed him down the stairs to our door. The joke was on us, it was Reggie, who we had never met. He was engaged to my aunt Nancy, and it turns out we were expecting him after all. It was (obviously) the first time we met him.
I'm pretty sure this picture of me was taken in that apartment.
