And mama was a baker and papa was a fool and when they first kissed each other he was sitting on a stool...

"Mama" was my first word.
"Mean" was my second and Pa said that I used to screech it whenever I was upset. To hear him imitate it is a hoot because his voice always cracks and he sounds really weird.
When Ma met Pa, she worked at a little baker's shop making cookies and bread. She was really happy all the time and loved everyone. Pa said she was just like me, except Ma's taller than me. Pa went to the baker's shop every day to buy a cookie or a loaf of bread and made up excuses to go there. He and Ma went on long walks in the gardens and danced all night in the taverns. They climbed trees and swam by a waterfall and ate sandwhiches every day and they were really happy.
Ma & Pa got married in the woods by the waterfall and Pa told Ma he wanted a baby girl. She didn't want kids, but she was sooo in love with him that she said she wouldn't mind.

Well, she did.
Pa wouldn't talk about it, but Raul told me that when Ma got pregnant, all she did was mope. He said her sunshine was gone and she spent a lot of time looking out the window. For the first year of my life, I stayed with Pa's Ma until Pa finally convinced Ma to take care of me. But she cried a lot. In fact, one of my first memories is of her crying by the window. When I asked her what was wrong, she stared at me for a good long while before looking away and crying some more.

When I was five, the Darkness came. It loomed, terrifying and I remember not wanting to go outside. So I didn't. We stayed in our flat with Raul and he told me stories and made tea to make me feel better. Pa just twisted his hat in his hands while he stared out the window, and most of the time Ma was lying in the corner with a green glass bottle that Pa said was her medicine.

Well, she's never stopped taking her medicine since.