Your Very Earliest Memory

[Deleted]

How serendipitous that the Useless Memories thread resurfaced of late.
I was on the phone with an old friend of mine last evening and out the the blue we began chatting about our earliest childhood memories.
I have just a few.
The one that came clearest into my mind was being bathed in the kitchen sink right at dusk one summer evening.
The sink was right below a small window that overlooked a large sideyard.
Immediately outside the window was a small dogwood tree that my father had planted.
Beyond that was a long view of a long strip of yard where a large white birch tree grew. (this tree was also directly outside my upstairs bedroom window and therefore featured prominently in my memory bank. Sadly,it is long gone).
Gazing out the kitchen window I could see my 3 brothers and a couple of neighborhood boys running around chasing and capturing fireflies.
A couple of them were putting the live fireflies in jars.
I so badly wanted to be out there with them but I guess I was just too young.
One of my brothers gave me a jar with holes punched in the lid,and inside were 6 or 7 live fireflies which I took to bed with me that night and watched them light up off and on all night.

[Deleted]

I remember being in a crib in my grandmother's kitchen. It's just a furtive memory only about a second long, but what is odd as the years go by is that my view has shifted over the years. Obviously I remember lying in the crib looking up at the ceiling, but when it pops into my mind now, I see the scene as an adult would -- looking down at the crib.

[Kimby]

(I think I remember that there is already a very similar thread on Any Port. Random memories perhaps?)

[Deleted]

Jun 7, 2012 14:28:27 GMT Kimby said:

(I think I remember that there is already a very similar thread on Any Port. Random memories perhaps?)

I know there is Kimby. And I thought of that. This is more specific to EARLIEST memory as opposed to RANDOM.
I thought it would be a wee more intriguing to hear of people's specific earliest childhood memory.
I know some people who claim to recall early early events as mere infants, and others that cannot recall anything until they are past being toddlers.
Part of my intrigue comes from recently seeing a child that I nannied for from the time she was just under 2 mos. old until age 2, 3 full days a week.
I hadn't seen her in quite some time. I was really curious as to whether or not she would remember me. I wondered if it would be my voice, seeing me, my scent.
Anyway, it's meant to be a totally different, specific topic.

[onlymark]

It's funny how the first two memories mentioned are exactly the same as mine. I remember being bathed in the sink by my Aunt as my mother was out at work and I remember lying in my crib and seeing my elder brother climb over the side to sleep with me as it was very cold.

[Deleted]

My (step)father always was astounded at some of the things that my mother and I could remember, because he said that he couldn't remember anything before the age of 8.

[Kimby]

Copying and pasting some of my memories from "Random" to "Earliest":

"My two earliest memories - that weren't preserved with photographs, so I believe they are actual memories - both revolve around deaths.

I remember the ambulance pulling up across the street when the older man who lived there died of a heart attack. I was about 5 years old.

For a long time I believed I also remembered my grandpa's burial. My mother said children were not brought to the cemetery, though. But I had the most vivid image of the place in my mind, and could picture the tented area with the coffin on a stand over the open grave.

The mystery was resolved just a couple years ago, when we visited the family plots in the graveyard in Barry County, Michigan, and I realized that the graves were in the wrong place. What I was remembering was probably a later visit to grandpa's grave during which someone else was being buried. I had a clear image in my mind of where in the cemetery that tent was in relation to a spigot where we probably got water for the flowers on grandpa's grave...."

and later in the thread (but earlier in time)

"I think the earliest thing I can remember is when my youngest sister was born when I was just over 4 years old. Dad and Grandpa took us two older girls to the hospital so they could visit Mom and the new baby (kids weren't permitted as visitors, but they had no one to leave us with so brought us along). It was Christmas time, and very snowy, and I remember Grandpa trying to hoist me over a snowbank as we got out of the car, losing his grip and dropping me in the snow. I got snow in my underpants, as I was wearing a dress.

Interesting that births and deaths make such big impressions on little ones."

Read more: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=209&page=3#ixzz1x8CsL8kV

[Deleted]

I also have a crib memory of seeing my father coming home from work on the farm on the tractor and me trying to see better out the bedroom window.
My mother told me that I used to try and move the crib that had wheels on it by pushing along the wall and moving closer to the window. She said I was ruining the wooden floor and she put coasters under the wheels to stop further damage to the floor.
She loved telling that story!!!
This incident may be attributable to my obstinance,iracibility, and low frustration tolerance.

[lugg]

My earliest memory (at least I think it is my memory but maybe it is a recollection of my parents telling me about it ) is of my "pigs" that I kept under the coffee table. I cannot rember the pigs names or what they looked like but I can remember the underneath of the coffee table so clearly. I am told that I started this imaginary game when I was about 2 years and I continued constructing my pig stories until i was about 3 years.

[mich64]

My earliest memory might be when we visited my mom at the Hospital when I was about 4. I remember her sitting outside on a bench in her pajamas. We walked from the parking lot across a large lawn and I remember her so far off in the distance and my dad letting me run when he told me that it was her.

[Deleted]

Good to see you Mich. I love your memory and when I read it I had a lovely image of a young Mich running happy into her mother's arms.

Lugg, this is for you!!! I giggled so much after reading your memory!!!
This is for you!!!!!

[lugg]

Casi - too funny and cute too, thank you ;D

[Deleted]

You are quite welcome Lugg. I couldn't resist!!

I love hearing about the different associations, memories people have,and at what age thereabouts.
I mentioned the young baby I took care of (who is now 3 years old) and my wondering whether or not she would remember me. She did,but, it wasn't upon just seeing me,it was when I picked her up and held her and spoke to her. There was no question about it as it was instantaneous.
The other real interesting thing is how during the course of my visit with her, different things kept coming back to her,some of which I don't recall. One of them was figs. While she was in my care one day, (at this point she was about 1 1/2 years old) my fig tree was in fruit and I gave her a fig to eat. I knew it was her very first. She looked at it curiously and started eating it. The look of delight on her face was unbelievable and she immediately wanted more figs.
Her father told me that every time she sees a fig she says my name.

I do wonder though,do people when they remember these things,continue to retain that memory? Will she recall 10, 20 years later that I gave her that first fig?

(a little off track I'm afraid but oh well...)

[Kimby]

She will when she discovers Any Port and reads about it on here!

[bixaorellana]

Poor child!

I'm like Kimby -- this thread seems familiar. Maybe there was one like it on ttr?

It feels so familiar that I feel funny recording these anecdotes, assuming that everyones is rolling eyes up and thinking, "Mercy -- the geezerette is trotting out one of her chestnuts again!"

Anyway ..........................

It seems to me I can remember my grandmother rocking me & singing "Little Drops of Water" on the back porch of her house, although maybe I constructed that memory from things I'd been told.

One of my very earliest memories is of sitting in a washtub with my little brother & my friend Sheila who lived next door. (I was probably born before the era of inflatable pools.) My brother (who is only 17 months younger than I) was just a little fat baby and he was laughing because his dingleberries were floating to the top. I remember that Sheila and I were looking at each other in mutual disgust. My first eye-roll!

Another very specific memory is of my grandmother having a a cape and hood made for me. I remember being in some lady's house -- sort of a gloomily lit house -- and deeply admiring myself in a cheval mirror. (To this day I associate cheval mirrors with happiness and elegance.)

My mother says this is a real memory, as she remembers the lady who sewed for my grandmother.

[Kimby]

Jun 9, 2012 23:57:12 GMT bixaorellana said:

I'm like Kimby -- this thread seems familiar. Maybe there was one like it on ttr?

Random memories thread started by kerouac on Any Port...up to 6 pages now.
anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=209&page=1

[Kimby]

pee ess - what's a dingleberry? I can think of 2 different meanings both of which could cause disgust to little girls sharing a bathtub with them.

[rikita]

i don't think my earliest memories are actual memories anymore. rather, they are things i remembered at some point, told someone about it, and because of that now remember remembering. the very earliest there is in the "krippe" (very early daycare, for children under three, which i only had to visit occasionally though, as my mom had my little brother soon after me, so she was home longer than was usual) - just remembering being there, having to nap, but not being able to as there were crying babies.

a few other very early memories are connected to the later daycare, from age 3 to 6, though i wouldn't be able to say in which order they happened and how old exactly i was...

[lugg]

I was just reading what Cassie wrote

I mentioned the young baby I took care of (who is now 3 years old) and my wondering whether or not she would remember me. She did,but, it wasn't upon just seeing me,it was when I picked her up and held her and spoke to her. There was no question about it as it was instantaneous.

.....and thinking about memory and how complex it is and how it involves all the senses, both known and others less understood. . Recently I was talking to a psychologist who is researching human responses , in particular "gut feeling" She was telling me that we are only just beginning to understand the links between "brain " and " gut" interaction . This is only possible with advancing imaging technology and leads on from the recent strides in our understanding about baby brain development.

[patricklondon]

I'm never sure if I really remember or whether I remember being told about something. But I do remember walking with my father and somehow asking him or being told what year it was. But since in my memory it was 1951, when I was three, I somehow suspect that it can't be true: a child that age doesn't have a concept of year numbers. Or do they?

On the other hand, I'm certain I remember the day King George VI died, because it was announced on the radio in mid-morning, and I rushed upstairs to tell my mother, who was polishing up the bathroom taps at the time. There you are, topical Diamond Jubilee memory for you.

[bixaorellana]

Very topical!

I think you might well remember being told it was 1951, maybe not because you had a concept of year numbers, but because of something else that resonated with you.

I've been called by my one-syllable, three-letter nickname since I was a baby. When I was little, my grandfather said he'd teach me how to write my name, whereupon he wrote out my full, seven-letter name. I asked him how it was possible for my name to be so long. I must have been quite young to have been unaware of my real name, and with no real concept of letters, except for thinking my name shouldn't need many.

[Deleted]

These are fascinating and intriguing to read.

I give alot of credence to the power of olfactory recall and the early memories that smell can conjure up.

[mich64]

Casi, I too am enjoying these earliest memory accounts. So many interesting and funny memories have been posted and I agree that olfactory recall evokes many of our memories.

When I smell my moms baking at Christmas time (especially mincemeat pies), I vividly see my brother coming up from the basement with tools in his hands and a beaming smile on his face and when taking a peek downstairs I see all four of the toy prams we girls had gotten that morning apart on the basement floor!

[patricklondon]

I give alot of credence to the power of olfactory recall

One day, I will get round to reading Proust. Even though madeleines strike me as one of the most boring cakes ever.

[htmb]

One of my earliest memories was being carted off to the operating room to have my tonsils and adenoids removed at the age of three. Since my family was not with me in the OR I am sure this is a memory, rather than hearsay. I remember the smells and sterility of the room. I also remember screaming for my mother and the doctor (maybe the anesthesiologist?) telling me that he was going to get my mother and he would be right back. Liar!

On a happier note, I also remember constantly pouring through art books of my mother's and loving the beautiful colors, the scenes in the paintings, etc. These books were very delicate and I remember having to promise my mother she could trust me to take good care of them.

In my recent deep, household cleaning I have come across these well-loved books again. In looking at the pictures I realize that many are those I have more recently admired in museums such as Manet, Renoir, and Van Gogh. I'm amazed that I was so fascinated by great artists even at such an early age, and how lucky I feel to finally get to see some of the original works.