My earliest memories are from when I was three or four years old. I remember Uncle Bruce coming to visit. I remember playing in the snow with my friend Heidi. But most vividly, I remember one day in the dining room of our house on Plains Trail in North Austin. Mom was vacuuming and the radio was on. An announcer came on the air and said, "ELVIS PRESLEY DIED YESTERDAY..." He went on with the rest of the story, and I began to sing, over and over, Elvis-Presley-died-yesterday-Elvis-Presley-died-yesterday until my mom, still somewhat hysterical over the death of the King, shook me to make me stop. August 18, 1977.
We have been talking a lot about the election with Lucy. She knows who President-Elect (omg, did I just type that?) Obama is, his voice on the radio, and she is very interested in understanding what it means to be president.
Me: "The president is the boss of the country like Mrs. Robinson is the boss of the classroom, or Mom is the boss of the family."
Lu: "And Dad, he is also the boss." I want to explain that Dad is more like Mom's Chief of Staff, but this is too complicated, especially when I haven't explained the three branches of government and the federal system.
Regardless of how much she truly understands, I think she will talk someday about remembering November 4, 2008.