Memories are a very precious thing. They can endow us with the wisdom of our past mistakes, and they give us hope for the future; but memories can also leave ugly disfiguring scars on our past that traumatically affects our personalities for our entire lives. One could say you are nothing more and nothing less than a collection of all your memories. I find this statement insightful as to the consequences of my own memories as a child. To this very day I can remember a single experience that stands out among all others and has shaped my personality for better, and for worse.

            One hot mid summer morning on a cloudless sunny day my father, on an impolitic whim, decided that our family should go to the zoo to have fun and celebrate life in general. Being a six year old boy with all the energy in the world, I started jumping up and down, wild-eyed and screaming with joy in anticipation of seeing animals. It took about six seconds for me to get into the car and six minutes for everyone else, but my dad eventually started up the car, pulled out of the driveway and I was content for about a mile. Once again, the fact that I was a mere child sitting still was not part of my extensively undeveloped vocabulary, and at about the second mile my farther already regretted the trip, and my mother was already dealing with her newly arrived migraine. After some minor threats, deafening music, and plenty of patience, my parents finally got me to the Zoo.

            My parents never needed to tell me we were close; I already knew. Once Papago Mountain had come into view I knew for a fact that we were almost there, I was young and I had not yet had much time to learn the lay of the land, but Papago Mountain was already a brilliant beacon always calling with its reddish tinge and subtle hump. Eventually my parents arrived at the entrance to the mysterious animal world. I gazed in awe at the immense moat swarming with crocodiles, and the massive gates that held out the outer world, but more importantly held the beasts inside. Timidly, I approached the untamed stronghold while holding my parents’ hands and after a few exchanges of paper and small coin which I had not yet understood, we entered the animal kingdom.