How Far Back Does Your Memory Go? (page 6)

poppers

I remember the house fire we had in 1947 - I was born in 1951.

yknot

The only thing I remember about the 1975 hoopla was us stocking literature and canned goods for the coming persecution. Everyone was directed to bury stashes at various points around their yards.

Our BS conductor also had a 2 bomb shelters and we did lots of drills getting to his house and practicing being quiet in the shelter so the wordly governments agents wouldn't find us

I remember later digging up the goods, we never went near the shelters again and my mom started dating .......Nov 1975.

I think the fear that was instilled coupled with the later presence of that person she started dating is the only reason I have any awareness at all.

Sad emo

I remember our new house in the middle of a half finished housing estate when I was 4 years old.

I also remember watching an episode of Coronation Street which was televised 3 years before I was born

... don't ask me where that one came from, they don't repeat episodes of that programme!

doofdaddy

StAnn brought a tear to my eye and a reminder that my grandchildren are watching every move, esp my 3 yr old.

She loves her Poppy.....

I remember one flash of being spoon fed baby food from a tin. Yep the fifties.

I remember because we were visiting my grandparents who lived a long way away. Grandma was baking a cake and I was on my mother's knee.

So long ago and all long gone.

RubaDub

I have vague memories of being handed the Paradise book when exiting the womb.

Rub a Dub

Farkel....My aunt lived down there and was an active JW at the time, I wonder if you crossed paths with her. Although, of course, LA and the Valley are such huge places, I am sure there were many, many congregations there. I lived in Reseda, I'm not sure where my aunt lived at the time. (Just learned her son just passed away yesterday).

hamsterbait....I am doubtful that is really an example of a "screen" memory. The recollection was of the distressing event (the earthquake) itself; it did not subsitute it for another less distressing experience. If anything my dreams intensified the traumatic nature of the event -- my dreams had me rolling all over the room, trapped in my crib, trying to hold on to the curtains for dear life. As scary as the experience seemed, it wasn't that bad. Narkissos had a comment in another thread today about the non-fixity of memory and how it is reconstructed in the act of recall. Sleep is inherently a confabulatory state so the potential for pure invention and distortion cannot be underestimated.

restrangled

When I was under 2 years old my parents use to attend a KH in a store front in Blue Island Illinois. It was rented and very shabby. I was on my mom's lap and was staring at a hole in the ceiling. I kept asking what was up there. A very tall man walked by us, and I asked him if he could see. He picked me up and held me up to the hole...I don't remember anything after he lifted me up, but my entire life I have had nightmares about holes in the corners of ceilings.

The other earliest memory I have is being in a crib in footed pajamas. I saw a spider and it disappeared. I asked my mom where did the spider go? As a joke she said it's in your pajamas. To this day I am so afraid of spiders, I can barely breathe when I see one. I literally loose my mind with fear. I actually check a room for them no matter where I am, checking corners, ceilings. etc. I never go into a room without a light on when it's dark.

I can spot a spider faster than anyone I know.

r.

Lady Lee

Leo

I suspect that some of your dreams may have been fueled by listening to the people around you talk about the quake. With a child's limited understanding it would be very easy to stretch the experience and "enhance" the dreams

I suspect that is what happened with my washing machine memory. I do remember my mother doing laundry at other times. I know she warned us about putting our hands too close to the wringers. So it isn't a long stretch to take what I knew about the wringers along with the remarks of people in the room to create the memory of his arm getting caught.

caliber

Your info is interesting but some research into the language acquisition of infants takes us in a rather interesting curve. Babies who have deaf parents who use sign language develop a much earlier expressive vocabulary than their hearing children of hearing parents. I was learning sign language when my youngest was 6 months old. By the time she was 9 months old she had an expressive vocabulary of over 50 words. Single words but is demonstrates that children understand language far earlier than their ability to express it. Odd;y I was ion the store today and saw a book for hearing parents to teach sign language to their babies. It seems in some places this is the new way to hurry children into language skills.

I know it was fabulous for me. Before most children could talk my daughter could tell me if she had a tummy ache or a head ache, if she wanted apple juice or milk; a cookie or bread or tell me if she had a wet or dirty diaper.

This information might have a great impact on what we understand about how children remember some things from early childhood.

hammsterbait - sorry I don't do dream interpretation

wha happened?

just under 3 years old and Mom came home with my new sister. I was trying to get around everyone to see her and at one point someone backed up and knocked me down. I hit my head on the coffee table. I got up, shrugged it off and ran over to my sister but stuff kept blurring my vision. My Mom sees me and screams, I start screaming and then I was grabbed and placed on my back and someone put a towel on my eye. Apparentlry, when I hit the coffee table I got cut and headwounds always just bleed. My eye was swollen and I remember looking in a mirror and seeing my right eye half shut. I still have the scar

no more kool aid

This is such an interesting topic. My husband always jokes his childhood must have been horrific because he can't remember anything until he was like 8 years old. I, on the other hand, remember things very early on. My parents were always moving (to where the need was great and to pioneer blah blah), but I can remember an apartment where they lived until I was about 18 months old. My mom didn't believe it at first but I was able to draw a layout, how the furniture was arranged and also describe where the parking lot was located in relation to the front door. I also remember my dad talking on the phone to and meeting other women, probably thinking I was too young to be able to relate these events to my mother. Not only was I aware of what was going on, I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut or it would upset my mom. I would say this was like at age 3 or 4. I also remember being really little and going to the book study in footed PJ's and having to sit in the chair with a book in my hand while other kids played on the floor (I was pissed off even as a baby).

How Far Back Does Your Memory Go?