[elegantlywasted]

my first memory is around 2 or 3, I can remember seeing my little sister in teh nursery at the hospital, and then visiting my mom in her room. I can also remember building a fort for my cat with a babysitter I had around the time of my sisters birth, not sure which came first.

[upton]

My earliest memory is falling off a slide in a park when I was about 3. I landed on my mouth, blood everywhere. But all was well in the end. If I had not had fallen off the slide I wonder what my earliest memory would be.

~~~I can't think of a signature~~~

[Ray hinton]

my earliest memory is being hit in the face by a spanner, thrown by my eldest brother,i bled like a stuck pig,probably squealed like one too.

RE-HAB IS FOR QUITTERS.

[neilep (OP)]

How old were you Ray when you enjoyed your close encounter with the spanner ?

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[gary_lankford]

quote:gary_lankford said: I have two memories from age two. I know I was two because they are both from the farm and we left the farm when I was still two.

The first, I have a basket of eggs (I see myself, so I am narratizing) and I am running to my father (as if he just got home from work) when I fall. I suspect I thought I'd be in trouble. My parents have no memory of this incident, but the timing is right, eggs are usually gathered in the late afternoon or early evening and I did gather eggs.

The second, I am lying in bed, there is a huge full moon shining through the window, and a big bird is flying against the window screen. I was deathly afraid of the neighbors guineas. If you know guineas, you know that they will attack a small child. My mother never could accept that the bird in the window was a guinea. It probably wasn't, but to my mind the only bird that would be trying to get me was a guinea. "The guineas they try to get me." I suspect that the light of the early night full moon seemed to illuminate a path for the birds flight, ended by the window screen in its path. My father says my bedroom window faced east.

 

quote:Dawes said:I think we all have false childhood memories and those who don't question them probably enjoy astrology readings...

I agree with you Dawes, not only on the exerpt that I quoted but on the rest of your post.

That is why I gave only two early memories which are unattested by other sources (parents or any other).  Nevertheless, the circumstances, places, and times allow for the plausibility of those memories.

I have a very strong mental image of shooting my brother through the finger with his pellet gun.  He is kneeling on the floor with his thumb over the muzzle and is pumping the pellet gun.  I reach in and pull the trigger.

While this is what actually happened, the "memory" is tainted because the story was told to me many times over the years.  i.e. the memory was suggested.

While I agree that we must question not only those early memories, but even much later memories as to their accuracy (memory is often tainted by perspective), I do believe it possibe to retain very early memories.  The criteria for judging their accuracy should be very strict.

Gary Lankford

[DoctorBeaver]

I can remember the garden in a house I used to live in & seeing parachutists land in the park at the end of the garden as part of some display. We moved from that house when I was 2 & a half.

[Andrew K Fletcher]

I remember my Granny Fletcher using an old fashioned washing machine, the type you turned by hand, together with a mangle to squeeze the water out. She used to make us a Toasted Jam sandwich. I remember sitting on my Grandfathers lap, he looked like Captain Birdseye. Fran used to put hot gleeds out of the fire in our wellington boots to warm our feet when they were cold from the frost and snow.

I remeber promissing faithfully to clean out the rabbits that we were allowed to keep and then neglecting to keep them cleaned out and finding they had gone one day.
My Gran and Grandad Field were also amazing, Grandad use to keep pigeons and chickens and always had a dog, the one I remember was a little pink pig called Julie, she was not a pig but an english bull terrier that looked like one. And we used to sleep there when our mum and dad wanted to go out to somewhere special. But most of all I remember the wide open spaces of fields that stretched forever, now housing estates. Geeze, I sound more like my grans and grandads the older I get.

One day I was very young and woke up looking round to find someone had changed our room while I slept, a further look revealed I was in the wrong house and must have been totally drained when I fell on the settee and slept soundly. I was in a house just up the road, but it didn't matter in those days, as everyone in the street were our friends and no one locked their doors.

And then school started, which meant running the gauntlet of the school bullies each Monday who frequently gave us a good hiding and stole our dinner money, until we became tough enough to deal with them.

I remember also a kaolin poultice being slapped on my neck when I had the mumps, and screaming blue murder because it was so hot it burned the skin off my neck. And that was the first and last poultice they ever put on me. Life was hard for me an my brother in those days. We had beatings for getting beatings if you get my drift.

I must have been aged about two when I remember walking by the side of the pram with my brother in it. We used to walk miles, no car in those days til much later and we definately went to see gran and grandad field, which was about 3 miles from our house, so 6 miles round trip, obviously being carried part of the way.

And oddly enough, when I was a little older, we noticed some children playing in the house next door to my gran and grandad Field. A few years ago, I learned that one of those children turned out to be the girl I married and we had obviously met before without realsiing it.



"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[DoctorBeaver]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew K Fletcher



And oddly enough, when I was a little older, we noticed some children playing in the house next door to my gran and grandad Field. A few years ago, I learned that one of those children turned out to be the girl I married and we had obviously met before without realsiing it.

Spooky, eh!

[neilep (OP)]

That is indeed spooky  Andrew !!



....many thanks to you all for your memories. Fascinating..and I appreciate your sharing these early experiences.

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[Son of Jupiter]

I can't remember too much from my early childhood, but I do remember at the age of three...ish, showing off for a neighbor. Picking up a large brick (large for a youngster anyway) pretending to be some sort of a super hero. Dropping the brick on my toe and cutting the tip off. My dad picked me (screaming like I just had my toe cut off) and the toe of discussion up and made his way to the hospital. Two dozen stitches and a chocolate bar or two later I was on my way to recovery, tip and' all.

Io

[Ray hinton]

quote:How old were you Ray when you enjoyed your close encounter with the spanner ?

i was probably about 4, i still have the scars, inside and out.

RE-HAB IS FOR QUITTERS.

[annemarie thompson]

i remember back to when i was two and a half ( validated by the fact it was my brothers sixth birthday) i had pinched one of his fruit polo's and started choking on it. This then resulted in my grandad having to pick me up turn me upside down and whack me in the back to dislodge it. I have never to this day eaten another polo of any description.

a thompson

[neilep (OP)]

quote:Originally posted by annemarie thompson

i remember back to when i was two and a half ( validated by the fact it was my brothers sixth birthday) i had pinched one of his fruit polo's and started choking on it. This then resulted in my grandad having to pick me up turn me upside down and whack me in the back to dislodge it. I have never to this day eaten another polo of any description.
a thompson

Well those german VW POLOS are notoriously difficult to digest [] you really ought to start on something a little smoother on the stomach like a Mini with garlic sauce []..

Seriously though, thank you for your memory...it's quite clear to me now that it's very rare to recall back before the age of 2.

Annemarie...next time you go shopping why don't you buy a tube of polos and overcome this fear ?...you're missing out on fruit and mint hole orientated sweety joy and goodness !! []...plus..if you can demonstrate to hubby that YOU can overcome by example then perhaps he'll try and do the same and visit your GP.

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[Hadrian]

i can remember being in my pram and seeing my brother climbing through the kicthen window. 18mt to 2yr aprox

[neilep (OP)]

BTT.....if any newbies would like to contribute here ..it would be appreciated...thanks

Men are the same as women, just inside out !

[neilep (OP)]

I am resurrecting this for purely selfish reasons...I love this thread and am genuinely interested in peoples earliest recollections. So, if you have not contributed here please do so..

Mirage ?...Iko ?..Roy P ?  etc etc...

(of course it's only a request...)

Men are the same as women, just inside out !

[Carolyn]

I have many 'snippets' of memory from before the age of 5.  But 5 is my earliest vivid memory.  I was playing with Barbie Dolls at a neighbors home.  We were on her front porch and all of a sudden I felt a stinging in my back. I had been shot with a 22 caliber shot gun. I threw my hand back to see what it was and when I looked, it was covered in blood.  My friends mom came running to me, picked me up and ran towards my home. I said to her "My parents are going to have to put me to bed".  My parents saw her and came running towards us.  I remember all the neighbors surrounding me and my parents taking my clothes off.  I didn't feel any pain until I looked down and saw my white dress covered in blood.  My parents loaded me up in the car and headed for the hospital.  Our road had speed bumps in it and I remember feeling the blood ooze out of me evertime they hit one. I felt sticky and very cold. When we got to the hospital everyone was running and I kept saying, "if you pray for me God won't let me die".  I remember saying that to everyone I saw.  I remember seeing nurses crying and then running out of the operating room.  And then I 'went to sleep'.  I also remember while I was in the hospital, asking my dad for a bike.  I wanted a green 'big girl' bike.  A few hours later after waking from a nap, my dad picked me up and carried me to the window.  Down in the back of his truck was a green big girl bike.  I knew then that I had daddy wrapped around my little finger.

Carolyn

[neilep (OP)]

OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Carolyn....did they ever get the person who shot you ?......why did they do it ?

THANK (GOD) you are still here !!

I think I understand why you will never forget that !!...Who can shoot a 5 year old ??

Mam.....THANK YOU THANK YOU for your amazing memory.

WE ALL LOVE YOU CAROLYN..

Oh My GAWWWWWWWWWWDDD !!!!!!


Carolyn is amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......

Men are the same as women, just inside out !

[Carolyn]

Thank you Neil, you're so kind.  

Yes, they did find the person who shot me.  However, since the bullet was too close to my spine, it couldn't be removed, so they had no evidence.  It was a teenaged boy, who was out hunting with a friend and didn't realize there was a neighborhood just beyond the woods.  I forgave him a long time ago.  It actually turned out to be my 7th grade English teachers son.

Carolyn

[neilep (OP)]

Phew !!..So, it was an accident of the worst kind with the best possible outcome...ie: your life !!

So, you have the bullet inside you !...wow !!...surely all they needed was provide an X-RAy for evidence !!...but...as I am not a lawyer I presume it's not valid.

THANK YOU for this most profound memory Carolyn and my admiration to you for the power of your forgiveness.

Men are the same as women, just inside out !