OT/MISC Whats your earliest memory? Some of mine

A

anna43

Veteran Member
I have several memories from age 2 or 3 when we lived on a farm. Dad had me holding bottles to feed bummer twin lambs (named Blondie and Dagwood) which at first I loved but they soon grew big enough to butt me over. I recall be terrified and dad laughing as I was butted over time and time again. During that timeframe I fell against a wood heating stove and burned my hands one seriously. I do not recall burning them or anything after up to what was probably the last doctor's visit. The doctor told me he had to trim away the dead skin and it was going to hurt -- and I clearly remember it didn't hurt. On the same farm my cousin who is 3 years older than me was visiting and cut his elbow/arm and I recall my mom rolling the Model T down the hill and popping the clutch to start it while praying it would start. (It did.) I also clearly recall my great grandmother who died when I was about 4.

fish hook -- I was also born in 1943 and remember seeing the newsreels about the war and the end of the war at the movie theatre and later about the Marshall Plan. I recall dad carrying me or my sister (13 months younger) and mom would carry the other. I also recall we wouldn't stay for the movie just the newsreels. Newspapers and newsreels were the "instant" news of the day.
 
lakemom

lakemom

Veteran Member
I had to have been around 3 or so. I remember riding in the middle of the back seat of the car with my older brother (by 7 years) on one side of me and my baby brother in some type of carrier type thing on the other side. The only reason I remember this was due to the fact that I had at some point in the past few minutes shoved a red hot (little button of cinnamon-flavored candy) up my nose and it BURNED. Good Lord, how it burned! As I was screaming my lungs out, I have the memory of my mother asking my older brother, "Why did you give that to her????" and then being held down in the emergency room while they shoved some type of rubber tube up my nose. Of course, by this time, all of the tears and snot had dissolved the little candy and I was just left with the residual burn.

Couldn't have been too many months after that, I remember jumping up & down in the back seat of the car (cars were HUGE back then compared to what they are today) and my father warning me to stop. Of course, I had to throw my head back to laugh, jumped too hard, hit the roof of the car with my mouth, and ripped the gums away from my upper teeth. Bled like a stuck pig.

I think I only remember either of those because they were so traumatic lol.
 
S

SlipperySlope

Veteran Member
I remember when I was 3. Because my sister was being born my Mother's 13 year old sister was watching me. We had the best time except for the scary movie she took me to. I don't remember anything about my sis..just my beloved Aunt and me having fun. I adored her until the day she died last year.

MY DH had very early memories in his crib and high chair. I can't remember back that far.
 
M

Martinhouse

Deceased
The several mentions of scary things reminded me of somethng I had not thought of in years.

I was born in Nov. of 1943. My folks and some neighbors who became close friends bought a couple or so acres in a big suburb of Minneapolis and because of shortages of building materials, we had to live in the basement for a good while. We moved into the basement when I was two and a half and the upstairs wasn't built for a good while. I had already started second grade, nearly 8 yrs. old when we moved out of the basement. There was a fireplace on an inside wall of the living room area of the basement and the back side of it was in a hall that led to the bathroom. My sister and I were afraid to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night because there was a little square metal door up high on the back of the fireplace, a clean-out door I learned eventually. Daddy told my sister and me that Yahooty lived behind that door and we had no idea who or what Yahooty was, but we were terrified of passing that little door when both of the folks were fast asleep.

I think I figured out when I was already grown that Yahooty must have actually been Yehudi, which I think is a real name, and my dad must have gotten it from nonsense he learned from his German dad who was kind of awful but also often very humorous.
 
LYKURGOS

LYKURGOS

No Surrender, No Defeat!
I remember my first dog at age 2 he was ran over on the dirt road. I told my mom I still remembered where Rascal was buried.

Last year I was working on a customers car so I took her home low and behold she lived in the same house I did at 2. I asked her if she minded if I came into her back yard because I buried my first dog there. She was thrilled to help. I walked right to the spot and paid my respects to a 50 year old grave for a 2 lb chihuahua’s that no one else could remember. That was my first experience with grief and dogs.

I have buried lots of dogs since, some of them have greater impacts than others. Most of them put more into my life than takes out of my heart when they die. It’s usually tough sometimes they rank high enough to be interred into the family graves of honor.
 
Mark Armstrong

Mark Armstrong

Veteran Member
Martinhouse said:
The several mentions of scary things reminded me of somethng I had not thought of in years.

I was born in Nov. of 1943. My folks and some neighbors who became close friends bought a couple or so acres in a big suburb of Minneapolis and because of shortages of building materials, we had to live in the basement for a good while. We moved into the basement when I was two and a half and the upstairs wasn't built for a good while. I had already started second grade, nearly 8 yrs. old when we moved out of the basement. There was a fireplace on an inside wall of the living room area of the basement and the back side of it was in a hall that led to the bathroom. My sister and I were afraid to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night because there was a little square metal door up high on the back of the fireplace, a clean-out door I learned eventually. Daddy told my sister and me that Yahooty lived behind that door and we had no idea who or what Yahooty was, but we were terrified of passing that little door when both of the folks were fast asleep.

I think I figured out when I was already grown that Yahooty must have actually been Yehudi, which I think is a real name, and my dad must have gotten it from nonsense he learned from his German dad who was kind of awful but also often very humorous.
Click to expand...

Considering the time period, your dad may have gotten Yahooty from the radio. Jerry Colonna, a sidekick of Bob Hope, used "Who's Yehudi?" as one of his catchphrases.
 
M

Martinhouse

Deceased
Mark Armstrong, you may be right, since our radio was always on, dawn til bedtime, unless we were all outdoors!

Thanks!
 
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dawgofwar10

dawgofwar10

Veteran Member
Something, kept bumping me in the forehead when it was really really dark and moist. Two months later I saw the light, a few days later I was circumcised, after all that, all I can remember it was year before I could walk...
 
W

Wiley

Membership Revoked
The very first memory I have is seeing a blurry, bright light that scared me. I also remember being in my crib a few times and in a walker before I could walk. Some I've told this to think it's possible that I remember my birth but I really have no idea or frame of reference. Of course, the bright light might have been my parents turning on the light to change my diaper lol.

I think one of the better things I remembered was from the time I was 3 years old and wanted to go watch trains go by, we lived fairly close to the train tracks. I knew if I stayed on the sidewalk I'd get there cause that's the way dad went when he took me. Our dog, a german sherpard, went with me and stayed until dad found me there waiting to see a train. I remembered where we lived at the time so vividly that I was able to find my way back to our old house when I was 40 that I had not seen since I was 3. In fact, I had not been to that town since the age of 3... even found the old donut shop dad would take me to for donuts. Talked to the owner who still had the place and he remembered my family!

Sorry KFhunter but I completely disagree with you about early memories being BS, they're not and I've proven that several times to family members by finding places that I hadn't seen since I was very young. I use the memories as leads to find lost parts of my past and have had great success in not only finding what I'm looking for by memory alone but I also find out larger parts of the story of those times.
 
F

fairywell

Veteran Member
My earliest memories, not born about by looking at pictures and family telling me when and where, etc. - took place when I was about late 4 or early 5 years old. Going to Seattle world's fair, riding the monorail, meeting my Great Grandfather about the same time/year. Going to kindergarten,( Mrs. Gunn was my teacher.)Kennedy's assassination, driving across the Mercer Island floating bridge to go to the "country"-Cottage Lake - (Now massive suburbia). I do not remember much, if nothing, from my infant or early toddler years at all.........that I can recall. Ha. I do remember going to "bluebirds" at the age of 4. Not much, in summary, before age 4. Would love to remember more.
 
D

desertvet2

Veteran Member
Make whatever judgement you like, but this is mine...

Before coming to "life" I recall being presented with multiple scenarios/ realities... I chose the one that I am living.

Funny/ not funny thing is ... that what I thought I would be "dropped into" was in reality my start point. All good ...so far...

I know what is coming, and so do.......you.

I shared a memory with my mother many years ago.. watching " Fritz, the cat " at the drive in. It was the intro to something else. And her and my father arguing and making up and having" hot sweaty sex" (LOL) In the car. Also going into the concession area to get pizza and pop corn... long story short..

My wonderful mother swore that there was no way on earth that I could remember the details I did because....





I WAS UNDER TWO MONTHS OLD.



I take all of the visions GOD gives me with a dose of absolute trust.

We are the children of the end.

Something new is coming, but we must endure to the end. endure.



I have spoken fluent foreign languages in Dire situations, in places I cannot mention, for reasons you can never know.

There is a plan, and it is HIS.


Love and respect for, and to all of my fellow humans....except the ****ers who dont deserve either.
 
coalcracker

coalcracker

Veteran Member
When I was a new Dad, I had both daughters watching a VCR of bears dancing and singing children songs. I was dozing on the couch when a song came on with these lyrics:

“lavender blue, dilly dilly
lavender green
If you were a king, dilly dilly
you’d need a queen.”

It was like I was struck by a bolt of lightning. I jumped up and stared at the TV and somehow knew that song. I had no literal memory, yet I knew the song. I immediately called my mom on the phone and asked, “Should I know this song?” I then sang her the song.

She freaked out. “I sang that song to you for the first few months of your life, but I stopped because my sister told me it was a girl song!”
 
mzkitty

mzkitty

I give up.
I remember right before I was born. I was in a dark "waiting room" and I could see my mother and the green hospital walls in the operating room. I remember thinking, "Let's get this over with." Then I don't remember anything until I was about 18 months old and I was really sick. I popped out of my body and I'm looking around and I said to myself, "Oh, I'm a baby." and then I went back to sleep I guess. I know I was that young because my mother had just had my sister and I remember her breast feeding her.

Then I remember dumping a box of corn flakes all over my parents' bedroom.

:lol:
 
Josie

Josie

Has No Life - Lives on TB
SSTemplar said:
I think you are remembering stories that were told you about your young life. Like I can remember that I got drunk on beer on my first birthday because my uncle told me about it when I was 12. A real memory is when I was 4 and found a giant grasshopper in the weeds. Because my younger brother was with me and we shared the same experience. Yea that giant grasshopper was about 4 inches long but hay I was 4.
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If you've talking to me, nope. Actually mom forgot about the paint escapade until I reminded her. As far as the hose experience, I know it was at my grandparents house on Nesbit Dr. In Ferguson, Missouri. It was spring. Hence the freezing cold water. The spark that brings back both memories is more the feeling...the cold of the water from the hose and the ooze of the paint. Actually the paint was on the cold side too!
 
K

KFhunter

Veteran Member
I don't doubt people remember things like being born, what I doubt is the veracity of the memory.

They change, and infants process information much differently than that of adults, so if an adult wanted to process an infants memory, they'd need the brain of an infant.
 
dawgofwar10

dawgofwar10

Veteran Member
My Dad, told me a story when I was born, now-mind you I came from a large Catholic Family. My first three Siblings were Gods gift’s gift to parents, they behaved, did good in school, Etc. Then my dad told me me when I was born, I gave him a Shiite eating grin looking up to him with no teeth. And later on in life, my dad and myself were the closest of the other nine other siblings. And believe it or not, I was the Heathen, Black Sheep, Prodigal Son of the family growing up. But I did walk up to my Dad when i was 25, and told him I wished I would have really listened to him earlier. But I am still, an Avid instructor at TSOHK, go Stupid, are chant is ree ree ree kicking them in the knee, rass rass rass kick them in the other knee!!! I now have a PHD from The School Of Hard Knocks, Professor Emeritus....
 
W

willowlady

Veteran Member
willowlady said:
About 20 mos. old. In Germany. I was terrified. We were at a fireworks (and munitions) display and I thought the sky was on fire. It really looked like that. The weird part is, my baby brother was being held by my dad, I was in my mom's arms, and suddenly I was looking at my dad out of my brother's eyes. That only lasted a few seconds, and then I was back in my mom's arms as she tried to tell me the sky wasn't really on fire.
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I should clarify the above. My actual memories are 1) of the fireworks display (they were also exploding expired WWII munitions at the same time) from the viewpoint of being hip-held by my mom. I remember the terror because the whole sky was lit up and burning. and 2) the other actual memory is feeling like an infant nestled in arms (my brother was born in April and it was July 4th), looking up at my dad, and remembering the sounds of the fireworks. Over the years I have puzzled as to how I could have two different viewpoints in those memories and finally came to the conclusion I had to have been seeing and feeling out of my brother's eyes and body. We were only 18 months apart in age. That's the only thing that makes any sense, as weird as it seems. The memories are clear and the sense of terror I'm sure is what cemented them in long-term. I never told my folks about the experiencing from my brother's point of view. I always knew it was unusual, whatever it was.
 
W

willowlady

Veteran Member
TxGal said:
One that makes no sense - I remember standing up in my crib eating an egg salad sandwich - egg salad sandwich?

One that just makes the whole family go 'hmmmm' - I remember sitting in the back seat of the family car, and distinctly remember it had a beige interior and a black exterior. My parents said there's no way I could remember that, because they sold that car before I was born and they had no pictures of it in the family photo album that I could have seen. Even so, my memory of it is crystal clear and I described it perfectly :-)

My older sister by 7 years really didn't much like how I tried to follow her everywhere when I was a preschooler. One day she ran off into the woods with her friends so I couldn't follow her (we were living on base, which was pretty safe back then), so I walked around the edge of the woods looking at the grass, butterflies, and flowers. I saw a plant with what looked like a pod hanging off of it, and when I touched it the pod popped opened suddenly and its seeds popped out. Scared me half to death and I ran home. Later that day, though, I came down with chicken pox. Honestly, for years afterward I was convinced that pod plant gave me the chicken pox.
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The pre-birth memory thing is not unheard of. My daughter has a memory that is very precise of an event that occurred when she was in utero, about 7-8 mos. We only realized this about ten years ago when she described in detail a place she had never been, other than in utero, and I was very careful not to lead her when I questioned her about it. I was rather scared at the time and very nervous, since I was going to a place I had never been to find my brother (for my folks -- an emergency) and didn't even know if he'd be there. Her memory is from the viewpoint as of waist high, like she was seeing through my belly.

Strange, TxGal. Both of us were from military families, evidently. Maybe something in the water? LOL
 
ainitfunny

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
When I was about 4 or 5 yrs old, I was playing outside and had a hard round candy or marble in my mouth and it slipped down my throat and I choked trying to breathe,and
from my perspective, i choked to death which was apparantly unconsciousness.

My mother said she came out to check on me and saw me laying there and immediately knew what had happened (blue face?) Or she knew I had marbles or hard round candy?

Anyway, she said she picked .me up by ONE ANKLE and held me upside down and beat me on my back HARD with her hand until the object popped out of my mouth.

To me, it was a "near death experience"because I never was able to breathe before I passed out, but I remember absolutely NOTHING from the "after I thought I died" part.
The only thing that happened was that afterwards, I wasn't very afraid of dying.

Humm. I wonder how long I lay there, not breathing, before she came and found me??
 
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S

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Wiley said:
The very first memory I have is seeing a blurry, bright light that scared me. I also remember being in my crib a few times and in a walker before I could walk. Some I've told this to think it's possible that I remember my birth but I really have no idea or frame of reference. Of course, the bright light might have been my parents turning on the light to change my diaper lol.

I think one of the better things I remembered was from the time I was 3 years old and wanted to go watch trains go by, we lived fairly close to the train tracks. I knew if I stayed on the sidewalk I'd get there cause that's the way dad went when he took me. Our dog, a german sherpard, went with me and stayed until dad found me there waiting to see a train. I remembered where we lived at the time so vividly that I was able to find my way back to our old house when I was 40 that I had not seen since I was 3. In fact, I had not been to that town since the age of 3... even found the old donut shop dad would take me to for donuts. Talked to the owner who still had the place and he remembered my family!

Sorry KFhunter but I completely disagree with you about early memories being BS, they're not and I've proven that several times to family members by finding places that I hadn't seen since I was very young. I use the memories as leads to find lost parts of my past and have had great success in not only finding what I'm looking for by memory alone but I also find out larger parts of the story of those times.
Click to expand...
I think early memories were more common in the days before the constant barrage of radio, TV, and now screens of all types...

I only have a couple... one was a recurring nightmare for years...I was in a crib in a row of cribs in what seemed to be a huge room. And a woman was walking briskly away from me, wearing the pencil skirt and high heels that were common in the 50's. It must have been the orphanage where I spent my first 14 months.

And then a year later, when I was just two. I remember the courtroom where they were finalizing the adoption of the baby boy who would be my greatest nemesis... and they wanted me to tell the judge how much I loved my little brother. Except I didnt...and I remember feeling very used and betrayed at essentially being made to lie!

Summerthyme
 
Texican

Texican

Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
My paternal grandfather (Mutt, nickname) died when I was a toddler and I still remember being picked up and looking at Mutt laying in the casket.

My grandmother lived to be nearly 103. She had an excellent memory and could name all of the counties in Texas and all of the different types of trees, shrubs and plants and had a green thumb. Toward the completion of her life she could remember things that happened decades and decades ago, but not what she had to eat that day. Our memories of what happened when we were young come to the forefront when our short term memory starts to fade.

Texican....
 
The Cub

The Cub

Behold, I am coming soon.
At age 5, I caught a 5lb redfish (saltwater red drum). I remember it because I was terrified at the fight it put up.

I remember my Dad telling me: "You hooked it; you land it.".

I thought I hooked a sea monster.
 
K

kochevnik

Senior Member
When I was in grad school (MS Pych) the psychologist I liked best was Alfred Adler - one of his main ideas was that the early recollections we have are can be profoundly important in our later life - they represent how we view the world and our place in it. Adler was also the guy who came up with the inferiority complex.

Most of these important, emotionally significant early recollections are around 4 or 5 years old. You can remember things earlier than that but they generally are kind of fleeting and might not have much significance - for example I remember moving into a new house when I was about 2.

My Adler style memory is saving the life of my younger brother. My father had taken a job running a fly-in fishing camp in northern Ontario - big-shots would be flown in by float plane from Chicago and places like that to drink, fish and play poker. I remember being rained in for a couple of days in Rainy Lake MN waiting for the weather to clear then piling into a float plane where some genius (my mother I think) gave my brother and I a bucket of licorice candy - the pilot wanted us to throw up outside the plane (while in flight) which I was not interested in doing.

I would have been about 4, my brother about 3 - and the area by the dock where the planes came in was pretty deep from the prop-wash and we were told to never go out to the end of the dock alone. My brother of course had his own idea about that - and one day he went out there (over my protests) leaned over and promptly fell in 10 ft deep water. Just me and him no adults around. I remember not knowing what to do - I didn't think I could fish him out and I knew he was going to die if I didn't do something - so I yelled like a madman and my father sprinted 100 yards from the main lodge and fished him out before he drowned.

Adler would say that that experience would have affected me in a variety of ways for the rest of my life. And it surely has - exhibit 1 - being a prepper for example.

And my brother never changed - I would tell him not to do stupid ass things all the time we were growing up and he never listened to a thing I said - we literally never speak any more - which is a bit of a relief not being responsible for someone like that any more.

And no he has never acknowledged that if it weren't for me he would be long dead now.

I recommend reading Adler for those interested - there are a lot of other good psych theories other than the commonly accepted ones like Freud etc.
 
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D

Doc

Senior Member
I remember crawling out of my crib and my mother putting me back in. Before she could get back in the kitchen, I was out again. She finally gave up and bought me a bed. I also remember throwing my glass baby bottle on the floor when we were at the theater. My mom was so mad that that was the last of the baby bottles. Of course I was about 5years old then.:lkick:
 
D

Disciple

Veteran Member
Sitting on the front porch of Grandpas log cabin in Eastern Ky about 4 years old. It was about a mile down off the road and he was explaining to me the sound of cars we heard upon it.

Also the same time we smelled a certain smell and he said it was a "polecat".
 
M

Martinhouse

Deceased
I remember my mom solving the broken glass baby bottle problem. She started using the round pint cream bottles we got from the milkman. They were super-thick glass and NEVER broke on our hardwood floors. The screw-on Evenflo caps with the rubber nipples wouldn't work on the cream bottles, but there was another brand, Hygia (Hygeia?) that had a larger rim and a snap-on rubber nipple that worked perfectly on the cream bottles.
 
Satanta

Satanta

Stone Cold Crazy
_______________
I remember being in some dark place. It seemed to sway a lot-back and forth and was hitting something on the outside of it. The motion got faster and faster then I was suddenly pushed down a long dark tunnel into another larger dark tunnel. I impacted something soft and warm and I pushed and pushed and ended up inside a soft balloon. I began strengthening and growing, inside of this safe place...seemed like forever then, one day the Safe Placee rejected me too and began shoving me towards a light and beyond.

Been trying to get back in there as much as possible ever since.
 
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