First Memory

by Summer Jaynes

I believe I was four-years-old.

I was at my Grandma's house, it was a sunny afternoon, there was a breeze. I'm climbing a cherry tree she has in her yard. "Pick the dark red ones, Summer. Do you know which ones are red?" "Yes!! Just like your favorite bird right Grandma?" "Good job."

I look down and see my Grandma standing there in shorts and a T-shirt. She's a heavier woman, her long black hair is flowing in the air. Her smile is so kind and her black-brown eyes are full of love. I look back at the cherries and start picking them, putting them in my sack. I eat some of them and I hear my Grandma laughing her heartfull laugh. "Summer, don't eat them all, you'll get a stomachache. You want a pie, don't you sweetie?" I just laugh and keep picking them til my sack is full. Then we walk in the house and wash them in the sink. I pull a chair up to the counter so I can watch her make the pie, stealing cherries while she's getting things ready.