Memories. .. share the earliest or most favorite childhood memory

by MissFit 27 Replies latest jw experiences

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  MissFit

  My daughter tells me that experts say children tend to have false memories.  Apparently their brain tends to fill things in that may not be totally accurate.

  I refuse to believe that my favorite and comforting memory might not be true. 

  So here is to fond memories real or not.

  The earliest memory I have is being put in a crib at a preschool. I remember my mom attempting to put me in and me screaming my head off.   She gave me my bottle.  I remember standing in the crib  crying as she left.  Real ? Its my memory.

  I have fragments of memories of when I was of preschool age.

  I have these memories of sitting on the porch swing cuddled up with my mom.  We would swing and she would sing little songs to me.  I remember the wood floor in the living room and how mom would start mopping it and then let us "skate" through the bubbles on the floor in our socks to "help" her scrub the floor.  Then she would wax it and we would put fresh socks on and "skate" some more to help her polish it.

  I remember seeing her in the kitchen crying over the last jar of peaches and that same day going to some office and seeing her crying again.  (Later I learned she was trying to get food stamps that day).

  That was the summer before mom had a nervous breakdown and we went into foster care. 

  While I have happy memories,  my sister's memories of the same mom was different and unhappy.  Her mom hit her and was verbally abusive. I dont remember seeing that, but later found outside documentation detailing it.

  we had the same mom but different relationships and experiences. 

  So would anyone else like to share a memory or two?
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  troubled mind

  My first memory is of going to a circus ,and really wanting a monkey . My Mom bought me a toy monkey on a stick that moved like a marionette .My memories start at about age four. We lived on a Military base and I remember quite a bit about living there . My best memories in early childhood are linked to smells....my Grandfather lived on a dairy farm ,and his wife grew fragrant flowers and herbs along the path from the house to the garage .Marigold ,herbs,evergreens,and ceder smells bring back a wonderful feeling of sunshine and peacefulness.

  I am curious about how much we do fill in memories from childhood . My husbands perspective from childhood wildly differs from his sisters,and they are only 2 yrs apart. 
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  fiddler

  My earliest memory was of being in a crib with another child who'd somehow gotten a very full diaper off and was 'fingerpainting' with the stuff all over the crib and walls (I know...too gross!). I related this memory tomy mom as an adult and she was surprized I'd remembered it because I was only 3.  I think I was slightly traumatized 😳

  later, my best memories were when we went out to 'the ranch' to spend a day with my mom's "worldly" family; grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  My JW dad was never around for that except to pick us all up in the evening to go back home.  He really hated it when my grandfather picked us all up (my mom didn't drive).  They were all such evil worldly people. 

  There were other good memories but not one involved meetings or assemblies.  They were usually when we missed a meeting and did something fun.
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  Magnum

  I just have snippets of memories from certain occasions.

  These are the earliest I can think of right now:

  About two years old. Fell and split a small part of my eyebrow open. Have vague snippet of memory of doctor stitching. Don't remember falling.

  Two or three? Remember being at edge of woods that opened into large field. Was with mother and her friend. We were in a go cart. They were scared because there was a supposedly mean bull in the field. I remember hearing them discuss it, but at the time, I didn't really comprehend everything. The memory is almost like remembering a dream.

  Two or three? Moving back into town and seeing father's mother for the first time since I was a tiny infant. Had no idea who she was. Can remember where I was standing (in an open carport), where she was standing, etc. Remember wondering who the lady with the black hair was and being scared of her. Of course, it's only looking back that I realize what was going on; I was clueless at the time.

  Don't remember how old I was when this occurred. Walked down road with mother to house that had a pig pen. The pen had an electric wire around it. Remember mother's* telling me not to touch the wire, but at the time I was thinking she meant not to touch the pigs because they had electric wires in them. Similarly, I remember my mother's reading me a book for children. One part was explaining digestion. It had a picture of men in hard hats. They were breaking up big rocks with picks. The point was that digestion is breaking food down into smaller pieces. However, I remember thinking that the book was indicating that we had actual little men in our stomachs. Must have been really young. It's amazing what children will believe.

  * To the person who ridiculed me for a similar grammatical construction: Using the possessive before a gerund is proper.
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  MissFit

  Troubled mind:  I was just thinking about how smells can trigger memories. Those sound like wonderful memories.

  My smell is the smell of cucumber plants.  I spent a summer helping my mom pick cucumbers for vacation money.  I think I was around 6.  

  Fiddlers: I'm glad you have some nice family memories. It is a shame your dad wouldn't be part of them.

  I had fragmented memories of my extended family.  Once I was in foster care I never got to see many of them again.  Sometimes I wasn't sure if they existed until I met some later in my teens.

  There was a woman I called Emma.  I thought Emma was another word for aunt.  I thought everyone had an Emma.lol.

  I mainly remember houses I lived in.  I categorize my memories by those houses.  
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  eyeuse2badub

  Christmas, Halloween and other holidays with our big families. My dad had 8 siblings and my mom had 12 siblings. Dozens of cousins to play with. God those were very happy days, memorable occasions!

  And then one day when I was 6 years old, a couple of JW's came to our door and my mom fell for it. The next 55+ years were spent in JW land with hardly any 'truly' happy times (even though JW's are the happiest people on earth) and no big family get together occasions because, of course,  the family was 'worldly'. Damn!

  just saying!

  eyeuse2badub
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  MissFit

  Eyeused2badub: I'm sorry your happy family memories are so short.  I have 1 blurry memory of christmas. A vague recollection of a story about sugar plums.  It took along time for me to realize that I had been read the poem "The Night Before Christmas".
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  sowhatnow

  id say the same sort of  crib memory .  in my mom and dads first apartment, i remember what the whole thing looked like, the layout. i remember my mom and dad fighting and my dad punching a hole in the wall, i was not yet 2. and i remember at age 4 having a spirit visit my bedside. twice. and floating down the stairs in that apartment.

  dreams for a toddler of that nature? hmm
  
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  Wasanelder Once

  I remember my sister reading me bedtime stories when I was two. It was Wynken, Blynken and Nod. I mostly remember the secure feeling of her voice and smile.

  Wynken, etc.
  
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  sowhatnow

  aww i remember them