What's your very first memory?

[AZK]

Yesterday we were looking at some old photo albums at my sister's house and we were commenting on how some of us remembered certain events and some didn't (which is why we're all here, right? to preserve those memories!). In any event, the conversation turned to the earliest memory we had. In my case, my very first memory was from when I was 3 years old. I was in the hospital to have a growth removed from my neck. I remember 3 things: 1) lying in my bed and having doctors standing over me looking at my neck, 2) crying in my bed after my mom leaving and having a very large nurse come bustling in and scolding me for fussing, and 3) climbing over the rails of my bed and sitting in a window sill (I assume I was trying to escape, lol).

What's your earliest memory? Was it a good one, or not so happy?

 

[tanteva]

I was about 3 years old as well. I had gone from the playground by the apartment where we lived, to another playground at another house a bit further away. They had this sort of net that you could climb, and I remember it was sooo hard to climb. Then I realized I had no idea how to find my way back home again. But I remember thinking, I'll just keep on playing & my big sister would eventually find me. Don't remember if she did or not, but somehow I must have gotten back home again.

We moved from that town when I was about 4, and I wasn't back there until 2019, when me and Urban made a pit stop to check out the place, when we were going past. It wasn't very far I had gone, but for a 3 year old, I bet it must have felt like another planet or something. LOL

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Very traumatic - I wasn't even 2 yet and was hospitalized for 2 weeks. I used to have recurring dreams about certain things and when I finally told my mom about them, she said "that was what it looked like" or "that really happened". 2-year-old's don't normally have memories, and I think that contributed to my fear of doctors. I also have bad claustrophobia and remember being in a cage. They put us in baby beds that were like cages. I remember running down a hallway with blue lights - Mom said I did that every night when they made them leave and they turned off the lights and there were blue lights up along the ceiling - it must have been very traumatic because now they let the parent(s) stay. I remember these "white things floating around" and I was in a Catholic Hospital and the nurses were nuns and wore the full habits with the big white hats.

 

[faerywings]

I remember being 4 and in preschool. My dad would drop me off and we would give Page School Hugs- that was the name of the school. One time, I left my Raggedy Ann doll there and I remember being traumatized!

 

[taxed4ever]

I think I was around three years old too! It was in the summer and the whole family was going to the beach for the day. Everyone piled into our large station wagon and I got left behind. I remember looking out the window and crying as they all drove away! When Mom got to the beach, (which wasn't that far away) she counted heads and realized I was missing LOL. Dad hopped back into the car and rescued me. Hard to keep track of 7 kids LOL.

 

[AZK]

@tanteva That doesn't sound too bad! We are all happy you made it home safe, whether under your own power or not!
@Cherylndesigns Your experience sounds so much like mine! It sounds like you were perhaps trying to escape, too!
@faerywings I have one memory of first grade; I don't remember anything about kindergarten at all!
@taxed4ever Oh dear! My MIL's significant other for many years had a similar experience with his first family. They left an infant behind, but only made it down the road a bit before they realized something was wrong!

 

[Kythe]

LOL I can hardly remember yesterday let alone 69 years ago..... Just kidding. One of my first memories is just before we moved to BC from Alberta. I was under three and had long hair in ringlets. My dad used to tease me and sing the song with the phrase "... and her hair hung down in ringlets." I hated being teased so Mom decided that she would cut my hair in a bowl cut which was so not girly. She never looked back as it was so much easier for her.

 

[*sylvia*]

When I was 4 years old, I really wanted to pick up my father from the office after work. I walked out of the house and headed in the direction I thought my father's office would be. Of course I got lost. I stood crying in the middle of the city. Someone brought me back home. My father was already there and my parents and brothers were already looking for me. Even today this *trip* is a topic of conversation. LOL

 

[LSlycord]

I remember clearly standing at the window in my parents' bedroom with my grandma brushing my hair, waiting for my mom to come home. She had been at the hospital having my brother and it would be the first time seeing her and my new baby brother. That makes me 3 years and 1 month.

What a great question Angie!

 

[margje]

At the age of 4 my mother got very sick and was taken to the hospital with an ambulance! I think this is the oldest memory! It had such an impact! Ooh and it ended up good after a few weeks!

 

[AZK]

@Kythe I had ringlets too! Good for your Mom for taking care of the problem!
@*sylvia* Isn't that funny, about how some stories are always there, no matter the occasion?
@LSlycord That's a good memory to have!
@margje Yes, that would be an impactful memory! It's good that it turned out well.