Okay, this one's going to be really long. I didn't get any sleep yesterday because I was too busy thinking about this. I'm going to write everything I remember about my childhood and how everything changed about it today. I don't care if any of you reply to this or not, I just need to take this off my shoulders.

Parents and Relatives

No matter what happens in my life, I will never ever, ever, ever forget my parents. I don't care if I lose my memory, I can still spot them in a crowd.

My mom was always with me. From when I was born, to this day, I still see her for most of the day.

My dad on the other hand, is very distant from me. From age 1-3, my dad moved around the world. He was in Paris, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and lots of other places. I never saw him, and I felt awkward around him when he came back. There is this really weird vision that I can't seem to forget. I was about 2 years old, sitting in my caged bed. I was looking through the bars and I saw a shadow standing by the window. That was my mom. Then, another, much taller shadowy figure came and kissed my mom on the cheek. That was my dad. I was 2 at the time, and I still can't forget it. Then, at age 6-9, he moved to America. So out of 14 years, I only lived with him 5-6 years.

My grandparents were always close to me as well. I remember all the way back how my grandma would take care of me when my mom was out. She was always nice and never ever raised her voice at anything. I mean EVER. She was always in these mystical, spiritual things. She uses some kind of ancient Japanese method of transferring body heat when I'm sick all the way from Armenia to here. It works, too. Anyway, my grandma was always healthy. She exercised, swam, ate fruits and vegetables, and didn't like anything artificial. She came to America last winter, and she hasn't changed a bit. Unfortunately, now she's back in Armenia.

My grandpa was always tough on the outside, but had a loving heart in the inside. He was a fighter. Back in his thirties, he had an open-heart surgery. Back then chances of surviving one were slim, especially in a country like Armenia. But he pulled through it. When they sewed back up his stomach, they put the stitches in a form of a cross, as a sign of hope. I don't know if it was on purpose or if they do that for everyone, but I never bothered to ask. He also stayed healthy. I remember when he woke himself up 6 in the morning, took a shower in cold water, and went outside to run around in the park across the street. He went out that early because later the park would get filled with people. Plus he said it built up stamina. He died at just age 64, and it was because of lung cancer. I knew it wasn't a natural death, because he was healthy. But he couldn't stop smoking. I wanted him to stop, and I asked him to stop. He tried his hardest, but the addiction won.

My grandpa's sister was always a fun woman. When I was little, I used to come over her house almost every day to play cards, read, watch TV, or just talk. My aunt was a cripple. She broke her leg at an early age, and had to walk in crutches after that. I know that she was the one that taught me how to read. Not school. That's just another reason why I think school's useless. Anyway, she had tons of books that I learned out of. She read to me sometimes, just for fun. Unfortunately, she passed away last year too, a couple of weeks before my grandpa did.

My uncle is a really cool person. He's in California right now, working as a computer technician. He's getting married soon.

My great uncle [from my grandma's side] is awesome. He lives in the same neighborhood as my great aunt [from my grandpa's side] used to, by coincidence. Another coincidence is that my grandpa and my grandpa and him share the same birthday. Even though him and me had few special moments together, my sister loves him with all my heart. When I visited my great aunt, my sister ran away to my great uncle, who lives a couple stories higher than my great aunt. When I went outside to search for her, she called my great-aunt telling her where she was.

Though I never had a strong relationship with everyone on my father’s side as I had with everyone on my mother's side (which I listed above), I still love them all.

My grandpa from my dad's side took care of me when I came over to her house. She shared her house with my uncle and his wife and kids. But it wasn't one house. The really cool thing that I liked about their home is that it was actually two apartments combined together. There was a wall separating the two apartments, and they took it down. Anyway, she was a calm lady that was just like any other grandma. She loved me, my sister and my cousins a lot. She brought us candy from the store she worked in. It wasn't actually a store. Imagine a metal lemonade stand with a roof over it. She sold gum, candy, chocolate, ice cream, and other really yummy stuff. She spoiled me.

My grandpa died when I was 3. I barely remember what he looks like, but I can't forget one thing. He always wrestled with me. I had so much fun with him. I still have no clue how he died. What my dad told me is that he got up and walked out of the home and never came back.

My uncle on my dad's side died when he was in his thirties. He died of diabetes. Back when he was all normal, he was a happy guy that always made me and my sister laugh. The first sight that I saw him acting wrong was at my sister’s birthday party. He left early because he was feeling bad. After that, he gradually turned much thinner until he barely resembled himself. My sister went to his house a lot of times with my dad to check on him, but I only saw him once. The time I saw him is when he was really thin. You could see his bones when you looked at his arms and legs. His neck was so thin it was a wonder his head could stay on it. It was a sad sight seeing someone as happy and funny and great overall be in such pain every day, until he passes away. Right now, I'm looking at his picture that is places right on top of my computer desk.

I have 3 cousins, and all of them are on my dad's side.

The oldest one is in his twenties and is living in Ohio. When his dad passed away, my dad acted like a father to him. I didn't see him at all, but I met him in Rhode Island, when my dad and I went there for a couple and weeks to live with my dad's godfather. I don't know what my cousin was doing there, but I didn't care that much. I was just happy to see him.

My middle cousin is also one of my best friends. We talk via e-mail a lot. When I was littler, I played with him a lot. We used to play around every time I visited him. My cousin has a mental sickness. When he was littler, a kid locked him up in a dark garage for about 2 hours, and then went home. Eventually the kid felt guilty and opened up the garage. My cousin got so scared in there, that to this that he stutters and hiccups when he speaks. But it didn't screw with his head that much. He's still the awesome kid I remember.

My littlest cousin is one of my sister's best friends. I never really spent any time with her, so I can't comment.

This isn't even half. I'll post some more of my childhood later.

Neighborhoods and Friends

I basically lived in 3 places before I moved to America.

When I was born up to age 3, I lived in my great aunt's house. My bed was put conveniently next to a window overlooking people passing by. When I got older, and my great aunt had no use for the space, she sold that part of her house to make a store, and a percentage of the money would go to her. It feels kind of weird knowing that the place I grew up in is now a store.

In front of the house we had a garden. I loved that place when I was little. My grandpa would come every day and water the plants, and I would help sometimes. Sometimes, at a special feast, my grandpa would make his own fireplace out of old bricks and some sticks to make pork in the very back of the garden. In the back, there was also this giant tree that I always climbed. It was growing right next to the garage where my grandpa would put his car. I always sat on top of the garage, just doing nothing at all. In the summer, I would collect the berries that grew on the tree and the whole family would eat it together. I have no idea what those berries are called in English. I'll try to find a pic of them and you guys can tell me if you know what it is.

Right now, since both my great-aunt and my grandpa passed away, we don't need the homes so we sold it to the store, and even the garden. They're planning on cutting down the tree next to the garage because it's causing some kind of problem.

When I was 4, and my dad stopped moving across the world, we settled in a middle-sized apartment. It was a good one. Not as good as the one my great-aunt had, but it's nothing to complain about. Actually there was one thing. The windows in my room were way too low, and my parents feared that I might fall out, so they paid some money make the windows higher.

I always loved my room, mostly because it had wallpaper of these ducks all around it. But when my sister was born, I became not so happy with it. My sister slept in the same room as my parents, and I became jealous because I was in another room all by myself.

Speaking of when my sister was born, I forgot before to tell you the story. I was 4 and my parents were at the hospital. My grandma was babysitting me. My grandma soon accidentally fell asleep, and then my phone rang. It was my dad telling me that I got a new baby sister. I was so excited that I got out of the house and ran all the way down the stairs to my parents' friends who live 5 stories below us. When I told them the news, they didn't believe me. But when my dad came home, then they finally accepted the truth.

My parents' friends were also my godparents. My parents trust them a lot. My dad knew them all the way back in college where they became friends. Soon after leaving each other at their own paths, my dad's friend proposed to his other friend. They got married and got a kid. By a strange coincidence, when we moved in, we had no clue that they lived in the same building. Soon after realizing that, my dad introduced my mom to them and to this day, they're the bestest of friends. Right now, they live in a suburban area in New Jersey, and opened up their own cafe, which ranked as the Top International Food Cafe.

Anyway, back to the apartment. It was a nice comfortable place. There are a lot of things I remember about it. I remember having antique plates and cups inside this see through drawer that no one was allowed to tough. I remember a tall closet that my sister and I climbed on top of. It was easy. My sister's bed was next to the closet, and the closet was next to a tiny window. We climbed up and looked through the window. It was really high, since we lived on the second top floor. We watched for a long time to see what was going on.

The neighborhood I lived in was certainly unique. One of the things I remember was this store that had a black rooster painted on it. I went there to buy a lot of things. And since I was little, they always used to rip me off. When I came back, my mom counted the money and ordered me to go back and tell them to give the money they took from me. After a while, they got tired of ripping me off, and started playing fair.

Another thing I remember is the apartment building parallel from our building. It was in much worse condition that ours. It looked old and broken. But there were people living in it. I knew because every time I ran across the windows, the people living there yelled at me to stop running across. The thing that was the most weird about the building is that it was slanted on the right. Because of the slant, it made a hole on the left leading underground that my friends and I used to climb into for fun.

The first friend that I ever had I met there. I was 5 years old, and he was 9, so there was a big age difference. We played together for a long time each day. Sometimes I came over his house to play his Sega, and sometimes he used to come over to my house to play my NES. We played a lot outside, too. I remember when that we liked watching Chinese action movies together. He pretended he was Jackie Chan and I pretended I was Bruce Lee and we would jump around the place pretending to fight "invisible ninjas". We soon met a new guy that moved in who was one year older than me.

Back to the neighborhood. There was a "park" in our neighbor hood. I don't know if I should call it a park because it was pavement, sand and grass, and almost no trees. Anyway, the "park" had 3 levels, and they all went up like 3 stairs. The lower level and the middle level were all normal, but every kid in the neighborhood liked the upper level. The upper level was never finished, and was just bricks and sand. We made forts out of the bricks and stuff, and we used to play War. Most of the kids were lucky to have those plastic guns that make lights and sounds and break in about a week or so. We played almost everyday, and we never had an actual fight. If one kid says, "I got you!" then the other kid would say "Okay." and would sit out until the next round. No one cheated and no one got mad.

Unfortunately, my mom sold the apartment to her friends in 2003, and I can't go back in it one final time. But I'll always have the visual in my head.

The third place that I lived in was the apartment my grandparents lived in. They also had lots of room, so they invited us over. The house was as big as the one that we had before. I loved living with my grandparents so much. My grandpa and I would wake up in the morning and go to the park across the road to run around a pool, and he would time me. Then when I got tired, I timed him as he ran around. When I came back, my grandma and my mom would prepare these really yummy soups. I never knew what was in them, but they were delicious so I didn't care. After that, my grandpa and I would ride to my great-aunt. My grandpa would water the garden, and I would play cards with my great aunt. Then I came out and climbed the tree that I mentioned before. Then we would come back home and I would play outside with my friends until evening.

I had a lot of friends back at my grandma's house. There were two brothers who lived in a house down the street, a Russian kid who moved to Armenia with his mom, and a lot of other people that lived in the apartments. We all loved watching Pokemon together. After Pokemon got old, we decided to make our own world like Pokemon. Each of us would draw sketches of 5 monsters that we wanted. We would then write down their abilities, biography, and weaknesses. After that, we pretended to "battle" each other with them. It was so much fun.

The neighborhood that was there was nothing special. In fact, it was kind of crappy. It was narrow, and there lots of cars, and all the room we had was this rectangular field with this kind of red sand. We played soccer in it every week. We called everyone out and divided each other into even teams and just had fun.

My grandma still lives there to this day.