Hermit Crab

I open to the first page. Mom and Dad marry, June of 1969. Mom looks beautiful with her long stick straight blonde hair. Then there is Dad… with his .5 inch thick plastic black glasses frames, and 3 inch side burns. They have adopted a Maggie, just like I did. A smart, loyal golden retriever who they kept and bred. Maggie has eleven, adorable little balls of golden fluff.

I turn the page. Looks like their first trip to Europe in 1971. They purchased a Volkswagen camper, which they drove from country to country in, and finally shipped back home after their three month jaunt. Justin is born, Mt. St. Helens erupts, they move back to the Bay Area. Granny is gathering seashells somewhere not far from their home in Orinda, California. Zack is born. Mom and Dad were hoping for a girl, and decided it would be funny to dress him up with the baby girl clothes received at the shower anyway. Zack looks silly.

I pass many more pages. I see a trip to the cabin in Tahoe during the winter. Everything is smothered in fresh, white snowfall. The cabin is barely visible through the powder. Justin and Zack have a baby brother- Benny. They move back to Oregon, but only for about a year. My Mom soon becomes pregnant. Again. For the last time. With me. Mimi.

I’m on the last page. I am dressed up in a cowgirl outfit... maybe this was some type of foreshadowing. I am on the back of a bike with my Mom on Stone Valley Road, back at our home in California. I remember this day. My mom sped off down the hill, and we ran over a snail. We stopped to inspect. Icky snail. I meet my best friend Sarah through Benny’s best friend, Michael. Sarah is Michaels little sister. We move to Arizona.