Earliest Memory
When I was born, I lived in an apartment on the West Side of New York City, but I don’t recall it or the address. Soon after I was born, the family moved to 131 East 66th St., I can remember that very well and my parents lived there until they sold it in 1973 and moved to Edgartown.
My room was small with a window facing East which opened on the shared backyards of the apartment block. In addition to the internal door to the bedroom on the West side of the room, there was a door opening onto the 5th floor landing. The door was rarely used since the main entrance hallway was on the 4th floor. However, the light on this landing was always on, and the light filtered through into the bedroom through a crack under the door. At night, this light had an eerie effect. According to my mother, I often cried at night but she was forbidden by my father to comfort me, he felt I would grow up “soft” if she did. I can remember one night seeing a woman standing by the 5th floor landing door in some sort of flowing robe. I was terrified. In retrospect, while recently on a religious retreat, I realized that the woman was Mary. I just didn’t know who she was as a child so I was frightened.