COMMENTS

18 responses to “Open Thread: Your Earliest Memory”

1. My earliest memory is of being sick, stuck in a baby cot , holding to the rails of the bed and crying like hell. I think I was not yet 3 years old!
   My mother told me,( later of course!), that I was very sick with dyphtheria, and she was scared I might harm my throat even more with all that crying. I remember pain and being alone, may be because I had other siblings who had to be kept far from the sick child.
   Not a very pleasant memory.

   Reply to Conceição Brito

2. In 1956 , I remember flying to Miami with my parents.

   Reply to Lou Garfinkle

3. I was born in the Philippines. One of my earliest memories was that I was a bedwetter. So I had to sleep on a mat on the wood floor, The mat was handwoven dried pandanus leaves. I remember I had to be given a bath or take one in the early mornings before going to school. We did not have kindergarten at all. So I went to first grade at age six. The test for acceptance into first grade was being able stretch my right arm above my head and bend that arm to see if I could touch my left ear.

   Reply to Zenaida Estrada

4. Broken arm, age 3. Self explanatory.

   Reply to Lynn Kleopfer

5. My earliest memory was the winter of 1950, when I was three. We had an horrendous snow. Dad helped the neighbors dig out. But, of course, I wanted to play in the snow to make a snowman. I would have been buried as we got 3 feet of snow. So dad made me a snowman and I watched from the dining room window. That is my earliest memory.

   Reply to Pam Jackson

6. When I was about one years old, my family lived in the downstairs apartment in my grandmother’s house. Since we were all family, the apartment doors were left open. My mother was making lunch and told me to call grandma to come eat. I toddled to the bottom of the stairs and called. Then, I thought, “I can crawl up the stairs and get grandma!” So I started crawling up the stairs. My grandmother then rushed down the stairs, scooped me up, and said I should never climb the stairs alone.

   Reply to Carol P.

7. My earliest memory, at about age 3, is seeing the Ohio River flood into Parkersburg, West Virginia. I remember seeing a small boat being rowed out from a garage into the street.

   Reply to Sam Bunge

8. My earliest memory was being placed in a car seat by my Father very early in the morning and being driven to a local bakery where he purchased fresh baked pastries for breakfast that morning. He drove a green 1953 Mercury Station Wagon. I remember the dark green color and faux wood paneling .

   Reply to Donato Nieman

9. Sitting on a park bench, my mother is holding me to her chest. I nuzzle in her soft corduroy jacket. I clasp something round and hard that years later, I discover is a wooden cherry on her lapel pin.

   Reply to Elena Brunn

10. This isn’t a complete memory, and I have been told it isn’t possible, but I remember my father carrying me as an infant to the babysitter through an alley which connected our houses. I remember his grey uniform which he wore to work.

    A more formed memory was insisting my parents hold my imaginary friend’s hand too when we crossed the street. I still see her clearly and remember her name.

    Reply to Cleta Bradwell

    1. Love this story! what was your imaginary friend’s name?

       Reply to Virge

    2. I am fascinated by the stories of imaginary friends. There are so many and nobody pays enough attention to them. Are they real? what did your imaginary friend look like? did he/she talk back to you or just listened? Amazing!

       Reply to Conceição Brito - Portugal

11. My earliest memory was when I was 3 and my mother came home from a 5 day hospital stay with a baby boy. I was so happy to see her.

    Reply to Jean

12. The current medical situation in Gaza brought back a memory , pushed back,perhaps, of the polio epidemic of the mid 50’s. We were 9, 7 & 5 and had earlier that spring received the 1st polio shots. We returned late summer from a week’s vacation in New Hampshire to find that two children in our veterans housing units had contacted polio with one child passing. I remember the fear and my thoughts go to Gaza and the families there.

    Reply to Carol Swanson

13. As a young child, I was on a lower level of an apartment building. I was trying to find my way by stairs to our apartment, but I realized as I climbed, that every floor had the same layout. How would I know which floor our apartment was on? This may have been at 514 Rockaway Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, in the early 1940s. Somehow I must have found the right floor because here I am, at Leisure World of Md, at age 86!

    Reply to Ruth Gutstein

14. My very first day in kindegarten. I arrived early w/my mother. I was wearing a fav blue checked dress. When arrived, the teacher met us at the door. She introduced herself and invited me in. She was telling my mother that I should go in and find my name and have a seat. Before she could finish the sentence, I had already found my seat asnd sat down with my hands folded on the desk. I then waved bye to mom.

    Reply to VivianL Presley

15. I have a misty memory of being in a baby carriage, being pushed down our Brooklyn street by my mother, and feeling gentle rain dotting my face. I must have been about 2 years old, and I remember seeing the gray sky, enjoying the rain, and trying to catch a few drops on my tongue. To me it was a beautiful, enjoyable moment. This was back in 1952.

    Reply to Rose Marie Wilson

16. While I do have a sweetly fuzzy memory of being carried as a baby – maybe 9 months old – the first complete memory I was about 2. I had wakened in my crib just about dawn. I already knew better than to call my mom to get me out, so I stood in the crib and carefully folded my blanket and hung it over the railing, as she always did. Then I looked out the window at the brightening day and watched the birds. Yeah, I was a really early bloomer! ;-)

    Reply to Sylvia W