What's your earliest memory?

[+ Funguy]

What is your earliest memory?

I'm 75 now now but my earliest VERIFIABLE memory was at age 2 years - my parents were building a new house and the lot was full 0f trenching for the foundation. My brother and I were running around and I tripped and fell into one of the trenches and tore the frenulum in my mouth between the inner upper lip and gum.  Bled like a son of a bitch and scared the shit out of my mom.  I remember all the blood and my mom crying and calling my dad (a doctor) and then being taken to my doctor. It seems to be a right of passage for all kids - I don't know a single adult who still has that piece of tissue.  One night at dinner when I was about 14-15, my dad asked each of us our earliest memory and I right away said it was this and he laughed and said he remembered it like it was yesterday!  He asked me questions about it and it was clear as day to me.

My second earliest memory was about 6 months later - my dad and I (mom followed with brother on a different flight) flew from LA to New York on a DC-6 (direct but NOT non-stop), in winter.  I distinctly remember telling my dad, as I looked out the window over New York, that all the lights were twinkling like Christmas lights.  Again, he verified the memory, tho it had never been spoken about in my presence.  The trip had been very traumatic for all as I was going across the country to have very specialized surgery  (all went well!)

A later fun memory was age 7 ( 1955) taking a Pan Am Boeing B377 Stratocruiser (double decker - unique in those days) from LA to Honolulu.  If the stewardesses (excuse me, flight attendants) could have thrown my brother and me out over the Pacific, they would have - we had so much fun running around.  The flight was realllllly long and thus, there was a lounge for socializing on one deck and seats and berths on the other!   Could not have been more than 50 or 60 passengers.  I have since found out that that particular model airliner seemed to have a lot of safety issues and I guess we were really lucky.

What about you guys?

[samhexum]

Midnight...

Not a sound from the pavement...

[TonyDown]

I remember being being bathed in the kitchen sink.  I was small enough to fit the length of the sink so I was likely very young.

[Luv2play]

1 hour ago, Funguy said:

What is your earliest memory?

I'm 75 now now but my earliest VERIFIABLE memory was at age 2 years - my parents were building a new house and the lot was full 0f trenching for the foundation. My brother and I were running around and I tripped and fell into one of the trenches and tore the frenulum in my mouth between the inner upper lip and gum.  Bled like a son of a bitch and scared the shit out of my mom.  I remember all the blood and my mom crying and calling my dad (a doctor) and then being taken to my doctor. It seems to be a right of passage for all kids - I don't know a single adult who still has that piece of tissue.  One night at dinner when I was about 14-15, my dad asked each of us our earliest memory and I right away said it was this and he laughed and said he remembered it like it was yesterday!  He asked me questions about it and it was clear as day to me.

My second earliest memory was about 6 months later - my dad and I (mom followed with brother on a different flight) flew from LA to New York on a DC-6 (direct but NOT non-stop), in winter.  I distinctly remember telling my dad, as I looked out the window over New York, that all the lights were twinkling like Christmas lights.  Again, he verified the memory, tho it had never been spoken about in my presence.  The trip had been very traumatic for all as I was going across the country to have very specialized surgery  (all went well!)

A later fun memory was age 7 ( 1955) taking a Pan Am Boeing B377 Stratocruiser (double decker - unique in those days) from LA to Honolulu.  If the stewardesses (excuse me, flight attendants) could have thrown my brother and me out over the Pacific, they would have - we had so much fun running around.  The flight was realllllly long and thus, there was a lounge for socializing on one deck and seats and berths on the other!   Could not have been more than 50 or 60 passengers.  I have since found out that that particular model airliner seemed to have a lot of safety issues and I guess we were really lucky.

What about you guys?

You seem to have had a very eventful first seven years in your life. My childhood was less so but my earliest memory when I was three was moving into a new house.
 

I guess that was something that registered in my mind as it was a large house that we were moving into since my sister had just been born and there were now six of us, parents included.

Even so I had to share a bedroom with one of my brothers since the house had only 4 bedrooms ( it had a maids room too but that was off the kitchen and my mother wanted that as a guest room). 
 

I seem to remember that the widow who sold us the house was at the door to greet us and give my parents the keys but maybe that was when we went to view it when she was still living there. 

[samhexum]

My father teaching me how to clean up after pooping... but not at home; in a stall at our pool club.

They paved that paradise decades ago & put up a Korean Temple... but, to me, it will always be the place I learned to... well, you know...

Edited January 29 by samhexum
for shits and giggles (literally)

[+ Cash4Trash]

Riding a sled down a very small hill - I was somewhere between 2 and 3 at the time.  

[+ Pensant]

I must have been between one and two, but I remember being told not to eat a pat of butter by my parents’ landlord, named Abel. I also remember my second birthday party and moving into our first house when I had just turned 3.

[+ azdr0710]

Speaking of sledding as a kid, does anybody remember that huge steep mountain as a kid that really is just a gentle slope when seen as an adult??!!

Edited January 29 by azdr0710

[+ Charlie]

When I was very young, the back door of our house led onto a small open deck with two short flights of steps, one going down to the back yard and the other to the walkway next to the house. My father tore down the deck when I was still very young and built an enclosed back porch in its place. My first memory is of standing on that deck in bright winter sunshine, dressed in a a light blue woolen onesie, trying to make up my mind which steps to take (I don't remember whether I walked down either one.). When I told my mother about that memory, she was very surprised, because she said I couldn't have been more than 2 years old in that outfit at that time of year, and by the next winter the deck had been torn down.

[pubic_assistance]

20 hours ago, Funguy said:

my earliest VERIFIABLE memory was at age 2 years

2 is highly unusual. Most humans can't remember anything under 3 years of age. But...the exception to that rule IS trauma. So falling into the ditch definitely carved a memory in your brain.

Same for me. One of my earliest memories is falling and being taken to the hospital. Terrified when I woke up after some minor surgery to discover I was in a strange place and didn't know where my parent's were. Absolutely terrifying. I was about 4 years old.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I remember being dropped off for the first day of pre-school (age 2) and some foggy images of a toy (a fire truck) from the house I attended for day-care before then.  I remember some very specific moments throughout preschool, ages 2/3/4. 

[dutchal]

I have one memory from before ~3, just an image of our living room.  Fortunately, there was no trauma involved.  We moved out of that apartment just before my third birthday, beyond that I can't date the memory.

[+ Axiom2001]

At age three-- my family of six lived in a two or three story brick building in a two bedroom apartment.  One night when two of my brothers and I were on chairs and playing "horsey" near the radiator that was inside of our living room, I pulled my brother's chair from under him.  He immediately fell and hit his head on the radiator and had one hell of a huge gash.  Blood began to flow, and I keenly remember my father's holding both sides of his head as if it had be split into.  

The next thing that I remember about that night was while I was lying in bed, I looked over at my brother who had returned home while my other brother and I slept.  In this moment of awareness, I noticed that his head had been bandaged; at this age I felt remorseful and quite saddened.  Remarkably and strangely, my parents, especially my father did not discuss or scold or spank me.  

...strange indeed, especially in terms of the relationship that he and I had over the years that were to come.

The preceding occurred some 80 years ago.

[SouthOfTheBorder]

"The Sound of Music" in theatre, 1964

 

[+ azdr0710]

19 minutes ago, SouthOfTheBorder said:

"The Sound of Music" in theatre, 1964

 

Fun Fact:  Biggest box office haul of the 1960s

[+ nycman]

Vague memories of a large American Flag fireworks display, followed by a VERY bright light and a crash. 

I always assumed it was just some weird childhood dream.

Years later I asked my mother about it. She said, "how on earth can you possibly remember that. You were a child in my arms at the State Fair. There was a big American Flag fireworks display and I tripped over a huge Fair Ground lamp that fell over and broke my toe". 

Doing the math, I would have been less than a year old. Developmentally speaking, it’s highly improbable…but fact.

Nothing else until my 3rd birthday. But there were photos of that event, so I’m not 100% sure those a real memories. 

[pubic_assistance]

1 hour ago, nycman said:

there were photos of that event,

This is a common phenomena, called "false-memory implantation".

You've seen a photo of an event and you think you actually remember it.

[+ sniper]

I had a childhood friend who is just about 3 months older than me. I remember going to his third birthday party and thinking I was still only two. Also remember my sister's birth five months later, and getting to carry her  to the front of the house in the cardboard box the hospital gave you with new children back then(this was before car seat laws). Please note I was taller, stronger, and heavier than the typical 6 year old at age three so this isn't as negligent as it sounds...

[Guest]

I remember my brother telling me when he was 5 (and I was 3) that 5 was the very best age to be. I held onto that, and recall the thrill of finally turning 5. No, he told me, 7 was better. #%*@!

[Rudynate]

My earliest memory was of an injury as well.  My parents bought their first house in 1954., when I was 2yo.  It was an older house and they did a lot of remodeling/renovation when they first bought it.  I remember a pile of plaster and lathe on the floor in the front hall.  I was playing in it and stepped on a nail.   My mother washed me up and put me in clean clothes and took me to a doctor who was right in the neighborhood.. I remember the doctor's name and his examining room and getting a shot that was probably a tetanus shot. It seemed like it was very late in the day.  I would have probably been 2-3 yo. 

[BSR]

My first memory was the nightly ritual of our nanny tucking my brother & me in to bed.  Well, not a bed really, like all Filipino tiny tykes, our "bed" was just a mat on the floor.

I also remember a few conversations at 3-4yo word for word in English, but that's impossible because I didn't know a word of English until I started kindergarten.  I must have subconsciously translated them because I forgot how to speak Tagalog.

[soloyo215]

At age three. My oldest sister was ironing yellow shorts for me, for my mom to take a picture of us. She placed the shorts on the bed and told me not to touch them. I did. I think that the memory has remained sinc I still have the picture that was taken afterwards.

I also remember at 4 when I first was able to read my name (I learned to read at 4).

[+ BobPS]

I have several memories at about age 3 including my mother opening the kitchen door and saying: it’s 5 o’clock, Mickey Mouse is on come inside. I very vaguely remember my third birthday party and I clearly remember the birthday party I had when I was four.

[+ Charlie]

I have another memory from the same period as the one I mentioned before, but I don't know which one is the earlier. I went with my parents to my grandparents' house after Thanksgiving dinner. My grandmother warned me not to disturb my mother's step-father, who was resting in the library/den. Nevertheless, I quietly sneaked into the room, which was lit only by a fire in the fireplace. I saw a heavy old man sitting in a big wooden rocking chair. He was apparently dozing, because he didn't seem aware of my presence. I stood there quietly watching him for a couple of minutes, then slipped out of the room again. I told my mother that I had seen Grandpa John, but I didn't wake him. I know the exact date, because he died a week later. I was 2 yrs. 8 mos. old.

[Guest]

Another early memory. Family vacation; I was 3-4. Old style cottages with outhouses. At breakfast, my mother warned, “Don’t touch the toaster, it’s hot!” Fascinated by this, I touched the toaster. That was the last time I touched a hot toaster. Same vacation, I began to follow my grandfather around the grounds. I followed him right into the outhouse, where he proceeded to unzip and pull down his pants. I was shocked at what I saw, and looked up at him in horror. He said, “You better get back to your family now.” Turns out he wasn’t my grandfather. (And, no, that’s NOT when I knew I was gay.) Gross.