My earliest memory was when I was about 2 years old. I remember my entire family was in the basement of our current home and I was being held by my grandmother near the bottom of the stairs. We were hiding there because there had been several tornado warnings at the time and we were afraid that our house would be hit. I think that because it was such an extreme event (worrying about the tornado) it became much more memorable. I don't think that my personality and identity are the same as they were then. I believe that I am a very different person than when I was younger. I think the farthest back I can go that it still feels like me is around six years old. My parents confirmed that we had taken shelter from a tornado, although this happened when we were living in Chicago, in a different home. I believe that because I probably don't remember the exact surroundings of the event, I replaced them with what my basement looks like now.
