What was your earliest memory of life?

Pre kindergarten. Going with my mother on the commuter train from the west island of Montreal into town.

I can remember the steam engine and the woodstove inside the station where passengers added wood to keep it warm during the winter months.

I can also remember my father, who worked for the railway, taking me to the yard. A yard engineer lifted me up on the seat, held my hand on the throttle, and I drove the engine. It was a diesel engine. Can also remember seeing the engines lined up at the roundhouse in that same CN Turcot yard.

I still love trains to this day and worked my way through university on the railway.
 
My older sister and I had a fight and we both ended up in the corners. I was there for a long time until my Aunt came and asked what happened. I took the opportunity to say that I was thirsty and that ended my time-out. I was less than 3yo.

Not long after that, still under 3 yo, I can vividly remember moving to a new house. I can remember the loading of the trucks, the trip, the stop-over, etc. I remember me asking my father that I bring my ukelele that for some reason, he objected. Maybe he wants some quiet time. That event probably ended my quest for being a musician.
 
I remember playing with a toy Texaco oil truck I got for Christmas in 1961. Three years old was a magical age!
 
Earliest memory is at about 18 months being "babysat" by my mother's best friend's dog, a German Shepherd named Oscar. Was in the living room while mother and her friend were in the kitchen. Not sure if this was intentional on their part or if he had actually taken me out of the playpen (Oscar was a very big beauty of a dog) on his own. He was so gentle, warm and cuddly. Now if he had been otherwise, and say bit part of my face off (this happened several years ago to the grandchild of a church acquaintance), my user name would almost certainly be quite different and the love of dogs (and cats) would not have been cemented in me so early on.
 
I remember watching my parents kissing and hugging the night I was conceived...
:cool:
 
I remember the Alamo.
 
My dad took the whole family out to a run down house in the county that his boss wanted him to help work on. We were wandering around looking in house and the grounds. I found a 22 cal bullet and put it on concrete walk and then took a hammer and hit the bullet. It exploded but safely blew out the sides of the smashed casing.
My parents came running over but didn't get mad at me for doing such a stupid thing.
I think I was about 5.
 
I struggle to remember yesterday.

I have early memories, but I suspect many of them were either reinforced, or possibly created, by looking at old family photo albums. I'm pretty sure I remember nothing before I could walk, and even then the earliest memories are just snapshots of places or people, so it's hard to tell what's real and what's from a picture.

I'm envious of those of you who can remember names. It's hit or miss if I can remember old friend's names, never mind ANY entire class. Much less the entire kindergarten class! I think my name recall problem is made worse by my "face blindness." I only recently discovered that's a real thing. I have it big time. Walked right past a woman I was dating once, in the supermarket. Boy, did I get an earful next time I called!

Interesting that this thread was started by a bot.
 
Age 4+, I remember being outside playing in the dirt by myself. My friends were a year older, so they were in kindergarten at that point. I also THINK I remember the hospital just before I had my tonsils removed. I have a vague memory of running down the hospital floor, but it's possible it is a learned memory because my mother constantly talked about it.
 
When I was 2 or 3 years old, we lived in a duplex with a two-story back porch. The family upstairs used to keep out a dish of those little pillow-shaped after-dinner mints that I apparently couldn't get enough of. I got in the habit of going upstairs and mooching candy. One day, on my way back downstairs, I fell. I remember my father looking up at me and exclaiming, "He flew!"

Mom later gave me her perspective on the incident. She said I had a mouthful of mints, and as I tumbled down, some of them spilled out. She thought they were my teeth!
 
For people who do not know what this is about, see:

http://www.early-retirement.org/for...deleted-thread-on-childhood-memory-87858.html

Wow, a bot that asks people of childhood memory! Is AI now at the point where a computer is as smart as HAL 9000 in the movie "2001 - A Space Odyssey"?

HAL 9000: Good afternoon... gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000... computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois... on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley... and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.​

And speaking of songs about childhood memory, it's time for me to reintroduce a favorite song of mine. However, I shall do it in another thread, which has not been determined to be started by a bot.
 
Last edited:
I have a single distinct memory of feel, smell and place from a time before I could walk. We lived in a small beach cottage and I remember my father picking me up, holding me, and giving me a kiss on my left cheek sometime in the late afternoon during the summer. He had come home from work, and I had been playing in the back yard with my mother on some kind of mat or blanket. I can clearly remember the feel of his whiskers, the smell of his cologne, where we were in the yard, everything. It wasn't captured photographically, just in my mind. Why I remember this particular moment, I have no idea.
 
We lived with Dad's parents till I was 3 & change. Several distinct memories particularly the layout of the furniture in our bedroom from my slatted baby bed. Also their living room layout particularly console floor model radio in corner.
 
NW-Bound said:
For people who do not know what this is about, see:

http://www.early-retirement.org/for...deleted-thread-on-childhood-memory-87858.html

Wow, a bot that asks people of childhood memory! Is AI now at the point where a computer is as smart as HAL 9000 in the movie "2001 - A Space Odyssey"?

HAL 9000: Good afternoon... gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000... computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois... on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley... and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.​

And speaking of songs about childhood memory, it's time for me to reintroduce a favorite song of mine. However, I shall do it in another thread, which has not been determined to be started by a bot.
Click to expand...
Wow, Vicky was a bot, who would have thunk it?
 
I can recall some childhood memories and some dreams from as far back as about 2-3 walking age. More vivid memories around age 5.

I can remember I used to have a nightmare my dad was hovering like a ghost and had no legs, and he was really upset about the fact he lost his legs

FF to real life 30 years later, dad almost lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. it was my motorcycle he crashed. Just weird, that dream(nightmare) still haunts me as a memory.

I can remember learning to swim, playing with the neighbor kids, fun birthday parties we had, events we had in pre-school at the local park. My childhood memories are super vivid to me at times.

I distinctly remember my 3rd birthday, woke up in a hotel near Disney world to my family all huddled around my bed singing happy birthday and me being tired and mad. They all seem to be amazed I can recall that memory so vividly from 3yrs old. I can remember the little Disney luggage tags, the characters I met while there, and some of the stuffed animals that my parents got suckered into buying at the gift shop. Then I can remember trying to burn donald duck in my toy room about a year later with a lighter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

easysurfer
Mass Memorial - Attend or Not Attend?
Replies
14
Views
1K
easysurfer
easysurfer
S
Wow - complete disregard for decedent
3 4 5
Replies
116
Views
9K
Pluperfect
P
D
Three more shifts!
Replies
15
Views
1K
Zona
Zona
M
Karma? A Chilling Story
Replies
19
Views
2K
marko
M
H
Asking for severance in exchange to quit
Replies
10
Views
601
Flieger
Flieger

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom