Memory

What is your earliest memory?  I mean the very first thing you can remember as a child. 

I was talking with some co-workers the other day and somehow we ended up on childhood memories.  Everyone seemed to think it was odd that I have memories from when I was 3 years old.  I do.  I can remember waking up in the mornings crawling out of my parents bed and sneaking into the living room to watch cartoons.  I know for a fact these memories are prior to age 5 as we moved just before I turned 5 and then again just after I turned 7. 

Granted the memories are a bit disconnected and not at all clear however, I seem to have a whole bunch of’em floating around in my head.  I can remember an old goose called “Grey-boy” that used to run, knock me down, jump on my back, and then proceed to beat me with his wings.  That goose stayed with us until I was almost in my teens.  Its funny, when he went missing from our farm, I got really teary-eyed.  I never imagined I was so attached to that mean old bastard.  I was though.

I can remember my old rocking horse that my dad use to have to practically pry me off of.  I remember playing in the dryer until one one day my dad closed the door and turned it on for a few seconds.  lol  Let me tell you, that few seconds was more than enough to encourage me not to play in the dryer anymore.

I can remember my older brothers having water balloon fights with the neighbors across the road.  I can remember hiding from my foster mother in a giant fig tree in our back yard.  I can even remember riding in our old car and going dumpster diving behind craft stores.  My foster mother was an avid seamstress but being very poor, we couldn’t afford expensive fabrics.  I carry no shame in that memory.  My mother made some of the most beautiful quilts from those “scraps” she found.  I only wish I still had the quilt(s) she made me.  Beyond the fact they would be quite valuable today, I miss the connection they gave me to her.  One became so ratty I had to throw it away.  The other went missing in all the moving around I did in my early adult years. 

The more I think about it, I find I have a whole plethora of early memories.

19 thoughts on “Memory”

  1. I have two memories that stand out;

    One of my Mom attempting to commit suicide while stark naked,

    the other that us kids had somehow gotten locked in our playhouse so the other kids pushed me out the window so I could go get help (I was the smallest)

    My oldest brother confirmed the first, because I wasn't sure of what I was seeing, and the other has always been one of those stories that is told around the dinner table

  2. Ok. I remember stuff from 3 or so, but nothing so traumatic as all of you.

    I remember the high school kids living next door. I remember at 4, getting hit by a car.

    A better question might be: your first gay memory.

  3. I remember my mother teaching me to read when I was three. I also remember waking up to watch cartoons at that age and having to be very quiet not to wake up my father (or the drunk would beat us).

    My memories are also tied by age to moving, I remember the place we lived in until I was 3 1/2ish which is how I pegged my age in a lot of memories.

  4. I know I have a lot of memories in my noggin but like yours they are very disconnected. It would take a lot of work for me to try to associate it with something in particular. I remember locations and architecture a lot better than I do people and events. I could tell you where I was sitting at a birthday party, but not anyone that was there.

  5. Ugg, geese. I hate those nasty ass birds. They're only fit for the dinner table.

    My early memories, lots of them post 4 but before that very few.

  6. Earliest memory is actually kind of a nice memory…Riding my tricycle down the street to the mail man to ask him for "Lalastics" – i.e. elastic (rubber) bands. I'm sure I was 4…sometimes I wish I was 4 again, life was easier then.

  7. I remember flying on a MAC flight (Military Airlift Command) to Germany with my parents to my old man's new duty station. My mom was amazed at my memory because I was only about 2 years old. I remember sitting in the back of the car with my brothers going through Checkpoint Charlie into East Germany too (Yeah – I'm dating myself here)

  8. If I remember from classes, around 2-3 is when your brain is formed enough to retain memories, so it's not odd that is when a lot of people have some memories.

    I have memories from that time, watching Kimba the White Lion, following my mom around with a playschool vacuum, the view out of the window of my room, oh and walking in on my parents . . . watching "It's Alive" and being traumatized for life from then on out and scared of devil babies 🙂

  9. My first vague memory is of my sister's Raggedy Ann and Andy bed sheets. I see them as a baby would lying in bed with his eyes open. My first EVENT memory is our house (trailer, really…I come from humble beginnings) burning down. I vividly remember my windbreaker melting to one of the bar stools, and I'm pretty sure I remember a box fan with blades that shrunk due to the heat. I was three years old.

  10. I have many early memories that are just flashes and images. Things from when I was about 3.

    But oddly enough, I had a “scent flashback” yesterday morning. It was a combination of the freshly brewed coffee at work and me coming in from the cold— but suddenly I was transported to “Fellowship Hall” at my church and getting a nutter butter cookie after sunday school while my mom drank coffee and chatted . I think i was maybe 5 at the time.

    God… a CHURCH memory????

  11. I remember being with my dad when he bought a shiny brand new 1966 chevy impala station wagon -powder blue. I remember the shiny hubcaps with the crossed flag emblems and the new car smell which always brings back that memory. I remember getting home and excitedly telling my Brothers and Sisters and they were watching "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" on TV

  12. I can still draw the floor plan of the main floor of the house we lived in until I was 4mo old. My mother was shocked when I asked her about it in detail when I was 17.

  13. My earliest memory is from when I was three. My parents were getting divorced and while my mom was in the hospital, my dad took me to his sister's house in Dallas to "hide" me because he wanted custody. My mom found out, broke in to her (soon to be ex) sister-in-law's house and grabbed me. I remember lying on the back seat of my mom's car and seeing my aunt come running out of the front door as the car pulled away.

    That's how I came to grow up in East Texas with my mom. Possession was nine-tenths of the law in child custody cases, at least in those days.

  14. Age 16 months. i crawled into a barrel on legs that served as a dog house for our pit bull how was nursing her litter of puppies. This was in the backyard – summer – my mom was weeding and not paying attention to me. I was with the dog for a while until my mom realized where I was. Just like a peanuts cartoon, I saw her face at the opening and she was reaching in to remove me and since I did not fully understand English it sounded like the trombone jabber that is used to depict “the adults” in the cartoon.

  15. My earliest is when I was 2. My mother was about to give me a bath, put me starkers on top of the hamper, and my sister opening the bathroom door, snapping a picture, then closing the door again. Still have the pic somewhere.

  16. OK well this is a little weird, but what ever. I have this picture of my mom. My dad gave it to me (which in itself is fairly bizzare, but I digress) So the picture is of my mom talking to the lady who lived across the street, and she had on a green cordoury jacket, and she was pregnant with me. The thing is, the picture (from 1948) is in black and white, and yet, I remember the jacket, and the very soft green fabric. It was a swing coat, I think they called them. My mother was beautiful. Her skin was like a peach. I used to love to touch her cheeks. This would have been, um…sixty years ago. Oh sheesh. OK so am I the oldest Mobynerd?

  17. Hi. Fun blog. Came over from West of Mayberry.

    I remember waking up in my sleeping bag on my fourth birthday on a family camping trip.

  18. Hey all, I remember vividly the room I shared with my sister in Caracas, and going to the living room to watch cartoons and eat cereal in my footie pajamas. I was three at that time.

    I also remember my 4th birthday and the great battery operated helicopter which my Mom got me which had red & green lights at the ends of the propeller and the doors of the cabin which flew open & had light up machine guns which made a ruckus every few minutes.

    I also remember watching the Superman TV show, and the landing on the moon on our 15" black & white TV set.

  19. The earliest confirmed memory I have is when I was two years old. I was helping my dad feed our pigs. I crawled atop the pen gate and the pigs were looking up at me thinking I had corn. One jumped up and "kissed" me knocking me off the gate. I don't recall much beyond that. This might explain alot of things…

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