Earliest memory

[twirlgrrl]

What is your earliest memory?

When I think back to my very earliest memories, most of them are traumatic in some way. This is not because I had a particularly traumatic childhood--I just think that scary or shocking events stick in the brain longer and more sharply for some reason. I have good memories too! Think back to some of your earliest memories. Are they mostly "good" memories, or mostly memories of scary or upsetting events? Tell me the story of your first memory. How old were you?



I was around 2 1/2. It was after bedtime, and I was alone in my room. For some reason I had decided to ride my tiger toy on the bed. It was a plastic ride-on tiger with wheels, and handles sticking out of its ears. I don't know how I got it onto the bed, but I remember pushing it across the blanket and sheet--it didn't roll well there! Once atop the tiger, I pitched forward and fell off the bed, landing head-first between the mattress and the small dresser next to the head of the bed. There was a gold-painted cardboard crown from Sabbath School on the floor, and one of the points of the crown poked my cheek just below my eye. That's all I remember--the tiger, the fall, and the crown poking me.

Here's the rest of the story, according to my mom: She heard me crying and came in to rescue me. She soothed me and put me back to bed, and I settled down quickly like the good-natured child I was (this is not a boast--she always says I "never cried!") In the morning, I came out of my room and toddled cheerfully down the hall with my shoulder slumped, my arm hanging down at a funny angle. Dad and Mother took one look at me and decided to have me checked out at the clinic where Dad worked. It turned out that I had broken my collarbone.

It's a famous story in my family because it illustrates how insanely mellow I was as a small child. But I don't remember it solely because of the familial retelling. I think I remember the small bits that I do because the actual fall and the landing were the scariest thing that had happened to me as a fully conscious person. I don't remember any collarbone pain, nor what happened at the clinic, or anything else about it though. Treatment must not have been traumatic.

So, what's yours?

Comments

[eac.livejournal.com]

I can't distinguish early traumatic memories from the ritual telling of those stories in my family. The two early memories I'm sure are MINE are not traumatic.

I have a clear memory which much be very early - maybe 2? - of being at the bottom of the stairs in our house in Columbus and seeing the light on in the bathroom at the top of the stairs. The bathroom seemed...miles away.

I also remember being 3 or 4. I was badly sunburned and lying down on the sofa, and my mother was explaining to our neighbor, Marvin, that she would never let me ride with him on his motorcycle. Not even just up and down the block. I was crushingly disappointed.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

LOL, you were a motorcycle mama at preschool age.

[eac.livejournal.com]

Pretty silly, huh? :)

[ninjalie.livejournal.com]

hmm good post idea, I think I will just post mine on my LJ

-Nat

earliest memories

[rebeckola.livejournal.com]

i believe traumatic situations do set memories. this is a topic i have shared with friends over the years and i always enjoy hearing peoples stories/memories. even when they are sad/traumatic memories it has provided the opportunity to embrace that inner child/friend. gratefully my earliest memory is delightful though simple and brief. i remember walking towards the door next to our kitchen and seeing an apple basket full of apples. then i was looking outside at the amazing green grass that seemed to go on forever and a big diciduous tree. my mother said this was a sheep ranch we live at in montana when i was 2. my other earliest memory was somewhat intense since i had the pneumonia and was taken in the night to the hospital where i stayed for a couple of dayz. i remember the crib i stayed in there and getting a shot in me bum, taking a bath in a most unusual tub in boiler type room with pipes exposed. the nurse gave me a big beaded purse with lots of bead necklaces. i was 2 or 3 years of age. my memory of this experience isn't bad though it stayed with me. so there are my stories revisited so many years later~~~

Re: earliest memories

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Those are both really lovely--they have the flavor of innocent and wondering childhood, when all the details of how things work and why things are a certain way don't crowd in and interfere with the moment-to-moment experience of living.