Personal History #2 - Cameron Baldwin Ellis

Me as an infant? I was born with a little red ball cap on crooked. And yes, it pained my mother. The doctors had a hard time getting me outta there, so they had to use some device that applies suction… to my head. My mom didn't get to hold me until well after my vital signs were okayed, and she tells me that was so horrible not knowing if I was okay and assuming the worst. But I was huge and healthy but then I got sick and lost weight and seemed a sickly little guy. I was smallest in any group. I defended myself by belittling the bigger boys, hoping they would be on my team or else leave me alone. I was tiny and fast. And strong. I knew I was strong the day my mom called and called for me to come in for lunch and had to come look for me. I was power-sliding around the corner astride my blue and black Big Wheel. Red right-hand brake. I'm all the way down the street and now my mom is standing there waiting for me and I say, "You wanna ride?" She stands on the back of the Big Wheel (the seat is scooted all the way up since my legs are so short, so there's plenty of room for my mom to stand.) I start cranking my little tough legs as hard as I can, and we start cruising. I look behind me to see if she's pushing, but Mom isn't pushing! It's me. I am a big boy. That's probably the same day I got potty trained, learned how to tie my shoes, write my name and say my prayers.
Our backyard was a quarter acre of grass, swing set and garden. I got to stain the fence when I was four. I wore my mom's gloves, which protected my arms from stain up to the elbow. My little fat belly got crescent sunburned where it peeked out. We also pulled weeds and thinned out the strawberries every Saturday. I would chase the neighbor girls around my yard until they would throw plant fertilizer in my eyes. Sometimes I would pull my diaper down and make a mess on the landing. I would fake a nap, and when my mom went outside to tan, I would go watch Sesame Street on our 10" black-and-white TV. Then I figured out that it was scripted and suddenly Grover wasn't so cool. But the Muppet Show was still cool.

Santa brought me a Luke Skywalker action figure with the light saber in his arm that extends for combat. I always thought that is what was being repaired at the end of Empire Strikes Back. I also was confused with the clear reference to baseball in the title. Empire and Umpire sound the same to a four-year-old. But Santa was very good to me and my sisters. We fought. I won. Then I lost. Now I can't really remember how it was to fight, but then I think about being the only boy in the house, and it all comes back. I liked being a Sunbeam, and I would shout BEAM during the Sunbeam song in Primary. Then I would go home and throw our Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas Album against the wall and watch it shatter. But I just wanted to play Frisbee, but we couldn't go out to play. But splintered vinyl is quite the party for one, too.
I loved to shovel snow and ride around in my dad's red Camaro. On Sunday mornings my dad would make pancakes. We always had leftovers, which we threw in the fridge. Across the street lived Sunny, a black lab who we knew mainly by the super-sniffing and dust clouds with his snout sticking out through the two inch gap under the garage door. We got to throw him the cold pancakes and watch his tongue devour them into his sharp teeth. He never pooped on our lawn. Neither did I.

We have all these awesome photos of me, my dad, my mom, and two sisters at Lagoon in black-and-white western gear, and Halloween, and Easter, and ward parties, and parades, and birthdays. Every holiday was a big deal, and man how that didn't stick with me.