Working Title

G

As the oldest I was the very first to go to school. In those days all I remember is having fun with my sisters all morning then with my friends all afternoon. The bliss of childhood ignorance and how I wish it could have lasted longer.
My earliest memory in school was when I was in the kindergarten, it was a particularly good nap time. My friends and I were cuddled up in a little circle when my teacher comes around and starts waking us up one by one. When I woke up and was brought outside to meet my parents I was still in a groggy state of half asleep half awake and didn't understand what was going on. There was the longest line of cars I'd ever seen at school at this time of day. Then when I see my dad he's running to me and hugging me very tightly. Then I go home to hear on television, while my mom watched in a zombie like state, that a plane crashed into a tall building in New York. Lots of people were dead, and more were dying as we watched. My young mind couldn't fully comprehend the magnitude of the situation in front of me, but I knew for sure some bad shit was happing and I was very lucky to be far far away.
The next day my mommy was still a zombie but instead of the silence I faces the day before, there was moaning and crying. Nothing else. No one could calm her down, or console her. Unbeknownst to us children in the dead of night mommy received a call from her sister, her best friend growing up and cousin was one of the unlucky ones. And so we're we, I had only met her a couple of times but we spoke on the phone at least once a week. Her voice was angelic and sweet, just like her smile. She was an angel now for real and mommy wanted to go with her to heaven. At the time I couldn't possibly understand why, but in time I would.
After about a month life resumed. I was back having fun in the mornings with my sisters, and fun in the afternoon with my friends.
But after that day it was never the same, still fun but somehow less. Then Mommy's friends from her teen years when she was with my biological father moved to the same neighborhood as us. Even better than that there were lots of kids with them all around our ages.