The End

It’s been a decade since this project began.
It was never meant to be much more than a few posts, so it’s already exceeded expectations.
Someone with more time who wanted to put in some effort might have made more of it.
That someone isn’t me.
Now that all the submissions have been posted and no more have come in, so it’s time to shutter this project.

The original Tumblr still exists – the ability to login was lost due to changes in Tumblr’s 2FA rules when they changed owners and then changed owners again.
They have no way to unlock things.

This archive will likely be moved somewhere else.
Perhaps some sort of sub-domain somewhere, with a redirect on the URL.
Then again, it might need to simply disappear.
I think 80 people viewed it last month.
Take out the bots and that probably leaves six people at most.
I’m being generous.

Thanks to everyone who sent in their earliest memory.
The happy, the sad, the indifferent and the trolling.
If you read any of the entries, then thanks for that.
Thanks to all those who got in touch to invite me to speak about the project.

That’s it.
Project closed.

My Earliest Memory #453

Looking out of my parent’s bedroom window on to the garden where there was a family of sparrows nesting.
They had woken me up and it was early.
My Dad was snoring (he still does).
My Mum was sat up in bed, watching me.
I smiled and pointed at the window as if to say to her, “Listen to the cheep-cheeping” even though she could probably hear it.
I think the light leaking through the curtains had woken her.
She never told me off, though.

Submitted by Ellie.

My Earliest Memory #451

Breaking my new year’s resolution.
(Which has now become my tradition.)
I am reckoning on being aged 14 when this happened.
I mean, I probably could dredge up an earlier memory, but when I don’t think too much about it this is the one I recall easily.
(In case you wondered, my new year’s resolution was to stop sneaking money from my Mom’s purse.
I didn’t like how it made me feel, but I carried on doing it anyway.
I still feel bad about it now and wonder why I didn’t just stop anyway.)

Submitted anonymously.

My Earliest Memory #450

Winding clocks at my grandmama’s home.
She had a big key for the tall clock at the foot of the stairs.
Whenever I was there and she wound it up, we used to recite Hickety Dickety Dock.
Every time she searched for mice, which of course weren’t there, but I know I was always hoping for a nest.
I was aged 4 when this ritual started, and she passed when I was nine.

Submitted by Louise D.