Earliest memory

Question: What is your earliest memory?

I must have been around three years old. I remember my mom and her friend, Maya, sitting on the couch in our studio apartment, talking. I don't remember what they were talking about, but I am guessing that they were talking about Maya moving to the United States. I do remember that they were deep in conversation and they really didn't want me interrupting them. Maya brought me a present, a small package of construction paper.

From that day, it's the construction paper that I remember the most. Growing up, we just didn't have anywhere near the variety of toys and art things that you had and still have. This pack of ten or maybe fifteen pieces of shiny, crinkly, foil like paper was pure magic. The pieces were small, maybe three by five inches and I remember that they were so fragile, I was afraid to play with them and handle them too much, but I couldn't put them down. I remember sitting on the rug and spreading them out in front of me - there were green and purple and silver sheets; there must have been other colors too, but those are the ones that I remember.  I remember the picture on the wrapping for the paper too, it was a picture of a frog, a cartoon frog, maybe drawn there to encourage kids to try and recreate it using the construction paper.

I don't remember what, if anything, I made using that paper. I just remember that warm, happy glow of opening the pack and watching those shiny, crinkly sheets slip into my hands. That's my earliest memory.