Month: February 2012

My Earliest Memory #146

It was a sunny day. I was wearing shorts and new shoes and the cherry tree hadn’t toppled over under the weight of the snow in winter yet.
My mom (or my grandmother) was planting chives in the flowerbed by the birch trees as I turned the corner on my way to visit a neighbor whom i had only recently collaborated with to stretch a length of twine with a basket on it between our windows so that we could “secretly” pass things to each other across the fence without anyone else knowing.


Submitted by Tobias Viken.

My Earliest Memory #145

Three years old, jumping from the sofa onto a small collapsible chair my grandmother had gifted me.
My parents were watching television and told me to stop before I hurt myself.
I ignored them and the chair collapsed on my finger, severing it.

I was the first microsurgery patient in Australia.


Submitted by Adrian Amoroso.

My Earliest Memory #144

Having my nappy changed.
I must have had terrible nappy rash because I would squirm and scream when the cold cream touched me.
The significant part in this was the realisation that the cream would happen if I fought or not; so I simply chose not to fight.
I relaxed and the discomfort was over so quickly that it gave the notion positive reinforcement it needed to fix for life. I deal with pain very well now.
 

All my parents and grandparents are gone now so I can’t ask them but I’m not aware that I potty-trained unusually late so this memory can’t date from older than my being three years old.
I first wrote about this memory at infant school but told my friend about it before then.


Submitted by Victoria Parkinson-MacLachlan. A 30-year old mother of three and wife extraordinaire.

My Earliest Memory #143

I remember waking up on the couch.
My brothers, sister, dad and mom are looking at me.
I ask, “Who are you?” and they introduce themselves.
I remember then talking and hanging out with my mom and asking her “What’s your name?” she replied, “My name is mom.”
I don’t know what happened, but it was like I was just dropped on this earth with no memory but I had the ability to speak.
It always puzzled me.


Submitted by Jeremiah Langley.

My Earliest Memory #142

I was about three.
In my Italian grandma’s lush front yard in Glendale, Calif., my father sort of bouncing me in the air up to a front window of the house and asking, “WHO’S that? WHO’S that?”, which is a little frightening until I see my aunt through the window, sitting at Grandma’s sewing machine and smiling her beautiful smile at me.

Submitted by Kathleen Vestuto, from NYC. Follow her on Twitter here: @katwomannyc

My Earliest Memory #141

I was 2 1/2 years old and I fell down an entire flight of outside stairs. The stone kind little pebbles in cement.
I was laying on bottom step looking up.
I only remember a shadow of someone small.
Years later I had a therapist who tried to comvince me it was my older sister and she pushed me. Parents swear not that way, though.
I remember the ER X-ray machine being pulled down over my face. Like some kind of giant robot about to eat me.
As it turned out the only real damage I sustained was a chipped tooth, thank you God!


Submitted by Hannah Joy from the United States of America.

My Earliest Memory #140

Losing my Paddington Bear teddy bear.
I was probably about one year old. We lived on a farm in northern South Africa, not too far from Johannesburg. I loved that bear but forgot it at a restaurant my parents took me to.
My father refused to go back to get it: he thought I could learn a lesson from the incident. I was far too young to learn from it though.
I cried myself to sleep.
I remember the bear had a dark blue coat with cylindrical, shiny wooden buttons.

Submitted by Davyd McColl, a 33-year old programmer, married with an 11-month old boy. Some of the best tips on how to be a father he learned from what his father *didn’t* do. He refuses to repeat his mistakes. He hopes his boy’s earliest memory is a better one than his.

My Earliest Memory #139

I was nearly 3 and my mum was heavily pregnant with my sister (who was born the day after my 3rd birthday).
We were in her room in our old house, I remember the yellow carpet (it was the 80’s) and big mirror.
I was sitting on the bed while she cut her toe nails.
She was reaching around the huge bump that was my sister, and slipped and cut her toe and it bled a lot.
I remember being scared of having my little toe nail cut for ages.


Submitted by Liz Davies from Sussex. Follow her on Twitter here: @lizzie_davies

My Earliest Memory #138

Lying in a cot, when I was about one.
Mum was there, but I couldn’t speak or anything so it was rather uneventful.
I think I just went back to sleep afterwards.

Submitted by Maurice Donald. He describes himself as a hapless student studying to get some qualifications of another.