Anecdotes of early childhood (with original photo)

The goldfish

My grandmother lived with us when I was a child and she grew up in a very poor rural area of Taiwan. Therefore she was always thinking of ways to save money and did not want to waste anything. One day, she discovered that my pet goldfish had died. Instead of suggesting that we conduct a cliché 'fish funeral' where we would stand in front of the toilet and say nice things about the fish before flushing him into his eternal resting place, she decided it would be more economical to fry him up for dinner. When my mother came home from work, she was shocked to see the goldfish plated up with the rest of our dishes and immediately told us not to eat him!

The haircut

Before my grandmother came to live with us, I went to a nanny's place every day. One time she wanted to give me a haircut. I don't think my hair was very long then and I refused. As we were struggling, her son came home and told me that this was a special magical treatment that would make my hair longer. I actually believed him and said 'OK, I want to have long hair!'

The swings

I have always loved swings and to this day whenever I see swings I want to hop on and fly into the air. Two memorable swings that I played on were the swings at Stanley Park, Vancouver next to the beautiful water and majestic mountains, and the swings at Lake Tahoe, California which I went on in the middle of winter, taking in the views of the snow-capped mountains and icy lake. My earliest memory of swings actually doesn't have anything to do with sitting on them. When I was in preschool during recess I would place my ear against the metal poles of the swing and listen to the sounds. I used to imagine that I was receiving secret messages transmitted from the school kitchen because the sound of the moving chains reminded me of pots and pans clanging. I guess I must have been hungry and looked forward to snack time!!

Note: I took this photo of my cousin's son during Chinese New Year a few years ago. He was looking into my great-aunt's house.
Sorry for the grainy second photo. I cropped it.