First thing you can remember

FETCHER. · 11-05-2009, 07:42 PM

haha that made me laugh quite a bit.

VEGANGELICA · 11-05-2009, 11:30 PM

I have a flash of a memory that must have been when I was 2. I was on the changing table. My mom left for some reason and I rolled over and fell, but I managed to cling to one of the vertical changing table legs so I stopped myself right before I would have hit the floor. Either I was 2 or I wore diapers for a long time! :-)

I have many more memories when I was 3 or 4 and it is hard to know which is first:
--Seeing my dad, hunkered over an old sewing machine, sewing me a Halloween cat costume.
--Watching my dad's gold fish Ernest swim around in a bowl on my dad's bedside stand. Ernest had porcelain coral to swim through and some fungal disease eating his fins. My dad gave him medicine baths to try to cure him.
--Lying in my crib looking up through toy animals at the light filtering down. I guess the room I shared with my older brother didn't have space for 2 beds, so I was stuck in the crib for a long time.
--Watching headless chickens run around in the yard after some neighbor men cut off the chickens' heads. I remember being afraid of the men and horrified for the chickens.
--Sniffing my blanket named "Yucky" after sucking it. Ah, Yucky!

pourmeanother · 11-06-2009, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Makes sense, but why only isolated incidents of mundane activities? Why not a lot more than you typically hear about or personally remember?

It just seems strange how a person can, for example, remember drinking from a red cup and not remember eating from a blue plate when both experiences may be equally mundane in an adult's perspective, but significant in a child's.
I just use that example as a comparison to the memory patterns you see and how they seem randomly selective.

It's interesting.

That is interesting- and I never really thought of that. I don't have an answer, but the stuff that gets stored in our long-term memory is stuff that's important- and stuff that's checked in on more often than not (maintaining the neural connections). There wouldn't be neural connections to these random isolated events when we're 3, 4, 5 unless they were somehow important.

Either that, or maybe the things we're remembering are actually dreams, and no reality- or something like that.

That reminds me- I remember the first dream I recalled in my life... I had this dream multiple times, and I think the first time was as a toddler: I'm in my living room, and there's a giant fly (like 8 feet long) on the ceiling, and it flies down towards me and I run away. Recurring dream, starting roughly age 3.

screemin187 · 11-06-2009, 07:27 PM

Being on hols at Ben Nevis and Fort William

I had to write an essay on my earliest memory at school once, i could only write a few sentences about the above, hmm what the **** its all i could remember. Freak teacher wanted 1.5 pages

I said do you want me to make some crap up, its all i can feckin remember

Got in a lot of **** for that comment, now i'm 37 i feel like paying my english teacher a visit, purely to test their memory of my subsequent detention

Freebase Dali · 11-06-2009, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by screemin187

Being on hols at Ben Nevis and Fort William

I had to write an essay on my earliest memory at school once, i could only write a few sentences about the above, hmm what the **** its all i could remember. Freak teacher wanted 1.5 pages

I said do you want me to make some crap up, its all i can feckin remember

Got in a lot of **** for that comment, now i'm 37 i feel like paying my english teacher a visit, purely to test their memory of my subsequent detention

Hehe... that sucks man.
Could it be that the teacher wanted you to analyze the memory, or was that not part of the script at all?
If not, that teacher needs a good, memorable kick to the balls/tits - respectively.

savannah · 11-06-2009, 08:13 PM

the first thing i really remember is a pair of zebra striped sunglasses with little zebra heads at the corners

i was three maybe four and had falled down on some slippery rocks at landa park in new brunsfuls (its a natural swimmin hole),...i skinned my nose all up and had two black eyes,....i looked like my momma had beat the hell outa me
she bought me the glasses and told me not to take them off when we went into place, though i quickly learned that if i would let them slide down the bridge of my scabby nose and batt my eyelashes at people i could get sympathy and often times candy

i also remember being about the same age and sneeking down the stairs at my grandmothers house so that i could listen to the adults play cards as i was supposed to be asleep,...my great grandfather caught me and said 'sally girl you better get up there to bed', to which i put my hands on my hips and retorted "pappa you dont scare me wortha damn"

ribbons · 11-06-2009, 10:25 PM

Ha! Very cute and sassy retort, Savannah.

My first memory is of mixing up Jesus with Santa Claus, in an odd way. I was about 2-3. We had a crucifix on the wall in our home, and sometimes I'd blow a kiss toward it and and say, "I love you, Aunt Cross". My mother corrected me and said, "That's Jesus, not Santa Claus" (thinking I was mispronouncing "Santa Claus" by saying "Aunt Cross"). But what I really thought was that Jesus was an "Aunt", because he had long hair, who was on a "Cross". Eventually I caught on to the Jesus/Santa Claus connection, having nothing to do with aunthood.

BTown · 11-07-2009, 04:56 PM

I remember when my sister was born and my dad was sitting on the windowsill in the room and when the doctor came in I crawled behind him because I was scared.
Also I remember walking around in my baby walker in the kitchen while my mom cooked dinner. Can't remember what came first, I was around 3 years old.

I can also remember being at my grandmas house for thanksgiving and I was in her relatively large kitchen along with other members from the family and my younger cousins. we were sliding back and forth on the wood floor. The only other thing I remember that night is the entire family (probably 20 some people) gathering in the large semi vacant play room to eat dinner. I remember there being tables set up I had never saw before and never saw again.

I can also remember sitting on the kitchen floor in front of the fridge with the door open putting my army men inside to play with them.

My earliest memory just hit me. I was 2 years old and had cancer and was in the hospital. I remember laying under this enormous machine getting ready to have anesthesia performe don me. I was scared as all hell and I remember my mom holding my hand as I drifted off to sleep.
I remember another time while they were performing anesthesia on me while I was around 2 I can recall the doctor putting the cup over my mouth and me starring up at himand the 5 other people looking down upon me and seeing everything go red and hearing their voices fade out.

ribbons · 11-07-2009, 09:58 PM

What a terrible trauma for you to endure at 2 years of age, BTown. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for you and your family. You must have been a really strong little guy and I'm so glad you made it through that awful time. All my very best to you.

~~someonecompletelyrandom~~ · 11-08-2009, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by savannah

new brunsfuls (its a natural swimmin hole),...

Haha, I go there every Summer.

11-06-2009, 08:13 PM	#36 (permalink)
savannah afrocentric Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: texas Posts: 753	the first thing i really remember is a pair of zebra striped sunglasses with little zebra heads at the corners i was three maybe four and had falled down on some slippery rocks at landa park in new brunsfuls (its a natural swimmin hole),...i skinned my nose all up and had two black eyes,....i looked like my momma had beat the hell outa me she bought me the glasses and told me not to take them off when we went into place, though i quickly learned that if i would let them slide down the bridge of my scabby nose and batt my eyelashes at people i could get sympathy and often times candy i also remember being about the same age and sneeking down the stairs at my grandmothers house so that i could listen to the adults play cards as i was supposed to be asleep,...my great grandfather caught me and said 'sally girl you better get up there to bed', to which i put my hands on my hips and retorted "pappa you dont scare me wortha damn" __________________ i changed my mind; i changed my mind;now i'm feeling different all that time, wasted i wish i was a little more delicate i wish my i wish my i wish my i wish my i wish my name was clementine - sarah jaffe

11-07-2009, 04:56 PM	#38 (permalink)
BTown super cool Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 806	I remember when my sister was born and my dad was sitting on the windowsill in the room and when the doctor came in I crawled behind him because I was scared. Also I remember walking around in my baby walker in the kitchen while my mom cooked dinner. Can't remember what came first, I was around 3 years old. I can also remember being at my grandmas house for thanksgiving and I was in her relatively large kitchen along with other members from the family and my younger cousins. we were sliding back and forth on the wood floor. The only other thing I remember that night is the entire family (probably 20 some people) gathering in the large semi vacant play room to eat dinner. I remember there being tables set up I had never saw before and never saw again. I can also remember sitting on the kitchen floor in front of the fridge with the door open putting my army men inside to play with them. My earliest memory just hit me. I was 2 years old and had cancer and was in the hospital. I remember laying under this enormous machine getting ready to have anesthesia performe don me. I was scared as all hell and I remember my mom holding my hand as I drifted off to sleep. I remember another time while they were performing anesthesia on me while I was around 2 I can recall the doctor putting the cup over my mouth and me starring up at himand the 5 other people looking down upon me and seeing everything go red and hearing their voices fade out. __________________ Last edited by BTown; 11-07-2009 at 05:13 PM.

11-06-2009, 07:27 PM	#34 (permalink)
screemin187 Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: County Antrim Posts: 68	Being on hols at Ben Nevis and Fort William I had to write an essay on my earliest memory at school once, i could only write a few sentences about the above, hmm what the ** its all i could remember. Freak teacher wanted 1.5 pages I said do you want me to make some crap up, its all i can feckin remember Got in a lot of ** for that comment, now i'm 37 i feel like paying my english teacher a visit, purely to test their memory of my subsequent detention

11-06-2009, 10:25 PM	#37 (permalink)
ribbons Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 1,265	Ha! Very cute and sassy retort, Savannah. My first memory is of mixing up Jesus with Santa Claus, in an odd way. I was about 2-3. We had a crucifix on the wall in our home, and sometimes I'd blow a kiss toward it and and say, "I love you, Aunt Cross". My mother corrected me and said, "That's Jesus, not Santa Claus" (thinking I was mispronouncing "Santa Claus" by saying "Aunt Cross"). But what I really thought was that Jesus was an "Aunt", because he had long hair, who was on a "Cross". Eventually I caught on to the Jesus/Santa Claus connection, having nothing to do with aunthood.

11-07-2009, 09:58 PM	#39 (permalink)
ribbons Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 1,265	What a terrible trauma for you to endure at 2 years of age, BTown. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for you and your family. You must have been a really strong little guy and I'm so glad you made it through that awful time. All my very best to you.