One of my first memories was when Mother and I lived with Aunt Maude Certain Pridmore on McKinley after my dad, Lionel Certain, died when I was 6 months old. We lived there with Aunt Maude and her children, Mattie, Thomas and Lillian until I was 3 years old and Mother remarried.
I slept with Aunt Mattie who was about my mother's age and we slept next to a window. Aunt Mattie always told me a bedtime story before we went to sleep.
The Thigpens lived next door and every morning I was awakened by Robert Thigpen running around and around the house holding a lard can lid like it was a steering wheel and going varoom, varoom, varoom like he was driving a car.
I was very lucky to have 5 grown people and I was the only child and very spoiled, I am sure, because I don't have any unpleasant memories during the three years we lived there. Aunt Maude would put the back of a straight chair against a table in the kitchen and let me stand and watch her cook. I always loved that.
Another thing I remember well is that I had some little scissors cutting paper and Aunt Maude told me to be careful and not to cut my hair. I thought "Wow" I didn't even think of that. So I immediately got behind the door and got a handful of my hair in front and cut it off to the scalp. Fortunately hair always grows back!