Your Earliest Memory

[SToNeR ChRiS]

Well I'm typically the type to write out a long initial post out when I start a thread but I haven't got the time right now. I was just wondering what your earliest memory was?

What's the specific memory you have? How old were you? How do you feel about your perception of the world at that age compared to now? For instance if it was walking through a park, were you staring at the leaves on a tree, or were you observing other people?

Feel free to share everything about your first memory and I'll get back to discuss my own after a few replies.

[SToNeR ChRiS]

Alright so I see there aren't any replies yet, but I've got a little more time on my hands right now. I have two fairly early memories that come to mind. I've heard and seen many people say that they remember "seeing the light come out of darkness" as actually being their first memory. I've also heard about people talk about simple memories such as throwing up at meal time at the age of 2 (just as an example, could have picked a better one probably). For me though, I can't say I remember many things from earlier than the age of 4. If I remember anything before then, it would simply be laying in bed with my parents most likely. With that being said, at the age of 4 I can remember quite a few different memories from a pre-school slash daycare I attended. Walking through the park right outside the building, and a couple of jumbled memories of playing games inside come to mind. If I can describe anything about my state of mind at the time, it would probably be that my thought process was very simple. I wasn't really critiquing anything that I saw, I was just simply seeing things at the most basic level.

Another early memory that comes to mind was driving with my father in our car and seeing the clouds in the distance at a lower level than we were... And we weren't even in high mountains or anything just small little hills. I think that I was probably older for this memory though and possibly even in the 5-7 range so it's probably far from one of my earliest, it's just one of my first really memorable ones.

Finally, a third memory that I can remember was walking into our backyard and seeing a baby bird smashed on the pavement as a consequence of falling out of its nest in the tree we had. I'm not sure what age this was but it's so long ago that I can't remember if it was a dream or not... but if I had to put my money on it, I would have said that this actually happened and I'm fairly certain it did.

This ties in with a final point I want to make. I think some of my earliest memories happen to be nightmares I had as a kid. I can remember two nightmares very well from a young age. One of them had to do with a giant bumblebee that was flying around in our backyard/driveway. It was a MASSIVE bumblebee and even to this day I have a phobia of wasps, bees, hornets and all the like. The setting of this dream is the only reason I can't remember if the bird egg falling was a dream or not because they happened in the same place. The other nightmare was just a bunch of old women (I think) and I can remember them entering into our house and just standing in our front entrance, looking incredibly evil. They might have continued walking in closer to my bedroom, but I always woke up before they got there.

Anyway these are all very early memories that come to mind for me. The memories at the daycare were probably my first though and it's actually possible that I may have even been 3.... 3-4 for certain though. So how about you guys? Any memories that come to mind?

[Ikku]

I'd say my earliest memories are also from daycare/preschool at age 3-4. I also remember a few dreams from that time in my life. One of the problems with looking so far back is that there is no clear timeline established, everything is so mixed up and all my achievements so minuscule that I can't sort them out. Although they may have really been the most important achievements of my life in shaping who I am today and I'm just taking them all for granted. Learning to talk and use the big boy toilet are skills I have yet to unlearn.

As for my perception of the world at the time, well it was only just forming. I was learning the alphabet and basic basic reading skills, so I was always fascinated by signs, flyers, anything with words on it. It's really hard for me to be specific though because I'm not sure of what was real and what was a dream, and I think I also have a lot of false memories in general when reaching that far back. My memory really becomes a bit more concrete and homogenous from ages 5 and up. Perhaps because at that point I had learned enough about communication to be able to form a more concrete memory and thus communicate it to my future self via creating that memory?

Anyway this was a fun exercise. I want to hear about other people's thoughts, maybe someone has something more vivid to share than me

[leprechaun]

The earliest memory that is in mind, is simply a still shot of a corridor. It's in my nursery, and there's a big painted picture of Jimminy Cricket to my left, and a little sink shaped thing that was used to play with water and toys in. Strangely though, when i picture this image, i'm seeing it from my height now as opposed to then, so it's definitely been jumbled over the years. I'm assuming i was around 4 years old here.

The first memory of actually doing something however is of me and my granda driving down to pick up my mum from work in a tiny little red car. I can remember driving down the hill, the last road before my mum's work. I remember this day because i was bought a little fishing toy, which was basically a plastic bowl with fish in it that had magnets attached to them, and you hooked them out with magnets on string. Apart from that, i can remember trying to climb on top of my granda's shoulders/head as he sat in his chair. I'm not 100% on the age here but i'd have to guess 4-5ish again.

In terms of how was my perception of the world... well i have no idea, but sitting here and thinking about it, i'm slightly scared to say that it's probably not much different than it is now.... selfish and eager to learn.

[Weedguru Higher]

The earliest memory I have was when I was 4 years old.

My mom used to do the dusting and cleaning in the house with a pail filled with water and a rag. She'd carry it around from room to room and leave it in the middle of the floor. I was in the same room, and remember walking backwards and falling into the pail, butt first. My butt got totally stuck in the pail and my legs were off the ground. I recall screaming and hollering at my mom to help me and all she could do was laugh! Instead of getting me out of my predicament, she ran down the hall to get the camera and snapped a shot of me stuck in the damn pail! She still has the picture and every once in a while she reminds me of it...

After that, also around age 4 I remember getting my head stuck in a bucket I had for making sand castles..my mom also has a picture of that.

I still hate buckets to this day. Such evil things.

Up until about age 6 or so the only things I remember are bad things pretty much...

[andriaSRH]

Killing a mountain lion with my bare hands then becoming king of Sparta...is my earliest memory.

[pkkupo]

Interesting. Most people seem to remember something from three to four, as I do. It was at the top of the stairs in my parents house. I believe I was four. I had just gotten up and was going downstairs for breakfast. The fan and the ceiling light were on in the hallway downstairs, which they never are/were, And I was like whaaaaaat...?...

[cutthecashflow]

I was three to four too. Something about pushing around a red toy car.

[pkkupo]

^See? Awesome.....lol. bucket.

[wgToonces]

I have a few early memories. One was a nightmare, I remember Edward Scissorhands chasing me around a car park and me being so scared lol.

The next one was also a dream. I was Speedy Gonzalez from the cartoons, and I remember speeding around telling all these other mice to run because there was big cats coming to get us. It's weird that I can only really remember those dreams and no actual memories from around that time. I have a few memories but I don't know if I've looked at old pictures and made up a memory around it but those are the earliest things I can remember that I'm pretty sure actually happened....Although how are we to know... These memories could have been implanted by the aliens that are harvesting us for energy