What are some of your oldest memories? (father, people)

[Sonic_Spork]

Things I remember from before I was 5 years old (I only know that because my Gran Gran, great-grandmother, died when I was 5, and because of where we lived at different points as verified by my parents)... And to be clear, no one talks about any of this and I don't have photos to remind me, so I know that these are my own memories.

- Standing on a balcony as a toddler and noticing that my legs were being covered by a swarm of biting ants, screaming and screaming...my Mom was on the phone so she didn't respond immediately. When she did, she grabbed me and hauled me into the bathroom and hosed me off in a cold water shower to knock the ants off of me.

- Stepping on a bumblebee in Gran Gran's back yard and getting stung.

- Gran Gran's house, the general layout of it, her reading stories to me and giving me butterscotch candy. Her teaching me to read, me reading the newspaper to her. The two of us doing the crossword together. Helping in her garden. The sunflowers. I have a pair of her glasses and when I take them out of the case and hold them, I can see her face in my mind, it is like magic. She always had those same cat-eye shaped frames.

- A townhome we lived in. Flea infestation from the cats. God-awful "Three's Company" on during dinner time, which I hated because the grown ups seemed SO STUPID. Playing in the cul-de-sac, riding a trike. Grinding up "poke berries" to make "ink" and sharpening sticks on the pavement for no particular purpose, breaking rocks with other rocks. (This was how children amused themselves before Cartoon Network and tablets.) The time we painted an exterior brick wall of the town home building bright red for some reason, and they let me help.

- A time I found a box of matches, and I lit one, and then blew it out. It smoked and I was afraid that someone would catch me, so I tried to pinch it with my fingers to make it stop. Of course I burned my finger and thumb on the hot match head. I told no one, did not cry, and made not a bit of fuss because I did not want to get in trouble. It was Halloween, and I was in a lot of pain from it the whole night, I remember, but I had to pretend that I wasn't. Not only saying nothing but smiling and seeming to have fun. I might have been six or seven for that one, though.

[in_newengland]

[quote=FordBronco1967;65598548]When I was a freshman in college, I took a psychology class to fulfill a general education requirement. When we got to the memory section of the course, the PowerPoint presentation the professor had made stated "the human mind cannot form coherent memories before the age of five". I knew that was absolute drivel, because I have many memories of things that happened before I was five years old. In fact, while I still remember many things from that period, I can remember that when I was around ten or twelve years old, that I could remember even more from that period. ...snip


I agree with you 100%. I don't know how anyone can say that we don't remember anything before the age of five. In fact, life is so simple before age five that I have clearer memories than of things that happened after age five.

I remember a lot from before I started kindergarten at age five. How else would I remember jumping on a train with my mother to go help an aunt who was married to an alcoholic and he was coming home yelling and screaming, staggering all over the place? If I had been five years old I would have been in school because we had full day kindergarten.

I remember when they moved out of a rental house to buy a house and I had drawn a picture LOL and was trying to hide it in the cracks in the stairs for the new residents to find. I don't know where I got that idea but I remember my dad telling me not to do it. I was under five years old at the time.

I remember getting radiation therapy for a birthmark at Boston Children's Hospital when I was three or four (or maybe younger.) Terrifying when they left me alone in the room and lights went off and on like a rainbow. This must have been in the late 1940s before they realized this was dangerous.

A lot of us remember being in our cribs and our baby carriages--and we are not making it up or imagining it.
Sometimes I wish these "experts" would shut up but hopefully, maybe some day they'll learn.

[SunGrins]

I remember my 2nd or 3rd birthday. I remember what I was wearing and where we were and it seems more likely it was 2nd. I’m almost 75 now. I don’t remember what I had for breakfast.

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by SunGrins

I remember my 2nd or 3rd birthday. I remember what I was wearing and where we were and it seems more likely it was 2nd. I’m almost 75 now. I don’t remember what I had for breakfast.

As far as birthday parties my fourth is the earliest I remember. I'm sure I had fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth birthday parties but I do not remember them. I do remember getting a full set of World Books in 1965 for my eighth. My ninth was a bowling party followed by dinner at an Italian restaurant, pizza for the kids and a camera squirtgun war outside our house (until someone filled the gun with ammonia). My tenth was a trip to the Barnum & Bailey's circus at the old Madison Square Garden, I don't really remember my eleventh and twelfth. My Bar Mitzvah filled in for my thirteenth, in grand style. My fourteenth wasn't really a party; my parents' close friends from upstate were in town and gave me Michael Chricton's Terminal Man as a gift. There was a surprise one for me in college for my twenty-first. Thereafter, my (now wife) girlfriend went all-out for my thirty-third, including dinner at Tropica, 33 cans of tennis balls and 33 toll tokens. My wife took myself and our two children to Niagara Falls Canada for my fiftieth.

Sorry for the partial thread drift.

[Nov3]

Still have the photo and the memory-
Three years old, just got a beautiful pollyflinders dress, patton white shoes, lace tights. My Dad yelled- We are going to visit your grandma, you wait outside for us to get the others! I went outside, stomped in every puddle I could find. My Dad yelled for everyone to gather for the family pic. I looked like a drowned rat, and my Dad in his berating voice that I so often shivered at, said: Always putting this family to shame aren't ya!

For memory sake- I still loved that picture of that little gal, I used to say I was the morton Salt girl without the Umbrella that day - HA!

[jmellc]

Originally Posted by jbgusa

These are my earliest memories:

1. When I was about three, had to be 1960, I remember being taken to my great-aunt's house about 35 miles away from home by my grandmother. The two of them noticed I was a bit lethargic. I remember as my grandmother drove me down the Saw Mill Parkway saying "east west home is best."
2. I remember about a year later my Dad tossing me in the air in the swimming pool at a club. I remember being a bit scared, and my Dad saying "I love you."
3. Finally, at the beginning of kindergarten I remember, one morning, being marched up three stairs and heading into the nurse's office, and being given a sugar cube. They wouldn't give me another. I guess they wouldn't give two oral polio vaccines

I recall the sugar cubes too, with pink or red vaccine dripped on. About 1963 for me.

[pekemom]

The two earliest….in my crib and woke up crying because I saw a red sweater flapping in the wind outside the window…….finding my baby shoes in the attic, trying to put my foot in one, wouldn’t quite fit and wondering why I had no memory of wearing them.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by CCS414

I didnt know where to put this so mods feel free to move it.


So what are some of your oldest memories and roughly how old were you? For instance, do you remember your first day of kindergarten? Do you remember any of your preschool aged birthday parties? Any other memories from a really young age?

I have a LOT of memories from my entire life.

I have 4 prenatal memories.
- I heard part of the song "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller
- I saw the color red (Mom was in the sun)
- My eyes opened and I saw blood vessels
- I heard stomach noises
When I was born, I was assaulted by awful echos, noises, and announcements in the hospital.
Shortly after we got home from the hospital, Dad put records on, and the music was much better.

I remember all of the floor plans of all of the houses I lived in except the first apartment (first few months).


When I was about 2, a parade with bands and floats went down our main street. We lived in a second floor apartment on the main street. We watched it from a window.

Mt grandparents had a sleigh and I rode in it.

When I was in kindergarten, I was given vaccines by the health department in school. My arm swole up to three times its normal size for three days. They didn't know to filter the growth media from the vaccines back then. It made me permanently allergic to wheat, eggs, and latex rubber. There was one redeeming event that day. Dad took us to the dealer and bought a new 1957 Chevy. We had that car long enough that I drove it for 8 years.

I remember the day my reading "device driver" turned on. We had been doing Phonics in first grade and had just finished the letter P. The next morning I woke up and I saw words everywhere. The words I knew read themselves. I have had this all of my life. From then on, I always want something to read handy.

I remember the launch of the Sputniks, the Explorer, Vanguard, Echo, and Tiros satellites, Gagarin's Flight, and all of our manned space launches and moon landings. I remember the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of President Kennedy.

I remember the names of all of my grade school teachers and most of my junior high and high school teachers. I don't remember very many of my college instructors' names.

[pete98146]

My father was career Air Force. Back in 1967 we lived in a small town in Germany up until we moved onto the base which coincided with my schooling.

We were the only Americans living in Lohrsbach Germany. I could speak both German and English and had lots of German kids to play with. These were wonderful times! All the Germans treated us well with the exception of one family who threw rocks at us and hated us because we were Americans.

The food was so good in Germany and it was so centrally located! We used to take the train all over Europe.

Fond times indeed! I want to go back and visit one of these days.

[DesertRat56]

Originally Posted by CCS414

I didnt know where to put this so mods feel free to move it.


So what are some of your oldest memories and roughly how old were you? For instance, do you remember your first day of kindergarten? Do you remember any of your preschool aged birthday parties? Any other memories from a really young age?

I remember when my brother was about 7 months old and I had just turned 2 the month before. We were in the yard and I had a little wagon I was pulling around. I left it for a minute to do something. My dad was messing with the lawn and my mom was standing near my brother who was crawling. He crawled to my wagon and pulled himslef up, clinging to the back. I took the wagon handle and started walking away, but stopped because my brother was screaming, my mother was yelling at me. I saw that he was clinging to the wagon and had taken a few steps but was very scared. I felt bad for scaring him. I also remember being impatient for him to learn to walk so he could play with me. That is the earliest clear memory I have. The reason I know about when it happened is because it was early summer. My brother was born in December when I was almost 19 months old.