Your First, or Favorite Childhood Memory

[LSN80]

I had a dream about this last night, actually, and memories I hadn't thought of for years came back to me. I don't put a ton of stock in dreams, but these were real memories, not figments of my own imagination during sleep. Anyways, it got me wondering about others first memories, and curious as to what end of the spectrum it fell on. Is it a pleasant memory, or is it a mundane one? Is it an unpleasant memory, or one of childhood innocence? What does it stir up inside of you? For me, it's an interesting one, as it's a touching one, and certainly pleasant. Yet, it's one I haven't even thought of in years, and it has me wondering why.

I was around 3 and a 1/2 years old, and my parents sat me and my twin sister down. They explained a lot of things that day, with two of them having a lasting impact on my life to this day. Undeniably, my young brain was unable to process the signifcance of both events, and how they would impact me to this day. All I knew at that time was excitement, and as I look back, one of the most eventful moments of my life.

As my parents sat us down, they informed us of two things: The first was the fact that we had been adopted. My parents, unable to have children, had decided to adopt. They didn't tell us then about the details, as those were saved for years later. All we were told is that we had a young mommy who loved us very much, but didn't have the money to raise us on her own. So we were given to our parents. Obviously, it was much more than simply this, but some context here: We were 3 and a 1/2 years old.

Being adopted, my parents then informed us of something else, more important than us being adopted. We were getting a little sister. While I'm sure we didn't understand the significance of it at the time, one would have thought it to be Christmas Day, and we had received the present we had always dreamed of. Of course, in my lower middle-class family, it meant less presents on Christmas Day, but again, 3 and a 1/2 year old brain here. And as it turns out, it was better than any Christmas present I could ever imagine.

As for the long-reaching consequences, that day has perhaps had a bigger impact on my life than any. I've heard of the stories of children of adoption searching for their biologicals, but for me, there's never been a desire. As far as I'm concerned, my adoptive parents are my real parents. I harbor no resentment towards my biological's, but they're not the ones who raised me. Why should such a silly thing as DNA matter?

As for the adoption of my sister, I couldn't ask for a better present to this day. For the life of me, when I became old enough to understand, I cannot fathom why my parents would want to adopt again, especially after getting twins. Ones who were a handful at that! But they wanted three children, so three children they got. My little sister's biological parents background was far more known: They had been part of one of the largest bank-robbing gangs on the East Coast in the 80's, and to my knowledge, they're still in prison, which is where my little sister was born. SHe's never met them either, but my parents did, standard procedure for adoptions. Criminals or not, the biological's approval is generally required of the adoptive's, and this was no different. Thankfully, in both cases , approval was given. In the case of my little sister, I got not just a sister, but as we became adults, a close friend and confidante both. I'm four years estranged from my twin sister, which gives me even a greater appreciation for my younger sister. She's the only sibling I have a relationship with.

What's your first/favorite childhood memory?

Of what impact did/does it have on your life?

This thread could go in 1546 directions, so the spam rules here are lax. Just discuss this as you remember it, if comfortable, and how it affected your life.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I was thinking about this relatively recently as I have a scar on my cheek that I have had since I was about 6 months old from when my older sister accidentally scratched me when she was going for a cuddle.

I have absolutely no memory of it though.

Bizarrely, what I believe is my first memory seems a tad lucky that it wasn't lost in a concussion. I think it was my third birthday or one of my sister's birthday when I was 3 and a bunch of us kids were sitting at my family's dinner table playing pass the parcel, except one wee twat decided to pretend it was a bomb and kept launching the box at random people when it came to him.
He didn't even throw it at me, but rather across me so as I flinched backwards, I tipped my chair back and what seemed like a minute passed before my head hit the carpet.

And I didn't even get the parcel, such bullshit!

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I was thinking about this relatively recently as I have a scar on my cheek that I have had since I was about 6 months old from when my older sister accidentally scratched me when she was going for a cuddle.

I have absolutely no memory of it though.

Bizarrely, what I believe is my first memory seems a tad lucky that it wasn't lost in a concussion. I think it was my third birthday or one of my sister's birthday when I was 3 and a bunch of us kids were sitting at my family's dinner table playing pass the parcel, except one wee twat decided to pretend it was a bomb and kept launching the box at random people when it came to him.
He didn't even throw it at me, but rather across me so as I flinched backwards, I tipped my chair back and what seemed like a minute passed before my head hit the carpet.

And I didn't even get the parcel, such bullshit!

That's funny, my first major memory actually involves a concussion.

I was 3 years old, and going to nursery at the time. Basically, we were in a building very much like a leisure centre with a solid concrete floor. There were a bunch of toys set up for us during our break time, one of which was a large climbing frame. I was a daring kid, climbing to the top of the thing and I foolishly decided to sit down. Next thing I know, I feel a hand push me and I fall to the floor and land on the back of my head. No tears, no screams, nothing. I was knocked senseless. I'm surprised I didn't get any brain damage from it. I remember becoming conscious slightly when my mum came to take me to the hospital before falling unconscious again. Next thing I knew, I was in A and E and I was told I had a concussion.

I've remembered it not only as my first major memory, but also as one of my most severe injuries (I've had worse, such as a torn tendon in my right calf). Me and the kid who pushed me are good friends now, and we laugh about it every once in a while. But the scariest thing though is the date of which it happened: June 29th 1998. The day before that, Mick Foley and Undertaker had their iconic Hell in a Cell match at King of the Ring. I know I shouldn't, but I feel somewhat proud of what happened on that day.

 

[Slash-LN]

Mine all involve one year so I'll share all three.

I was three years old so the brother in this story would have been 8 or 9. He decided we needed to build a go kart and we were down in our basement getting some stuff together. For some reason there was a pile of broken glass and nails. My brother told me not to step in it so of course I decided to walk through it. I didn't have socks or shoes on and I cut my feet. My brother carried me up the stairs because I was screaming my head off. He cleaned up my feet and said not to tell our mom. A little bit later he came into the house and said he wanted to show me something. He took me across the street and a couple houses over. In between two houses there was a blanket with a bunch of candy on it. One of my brother's friends was there and there was a little kid around my age. My brother introduced me to him and something happened where we all had a pile of candy and either the little kid tried to take some of mine or I tried to take some of his. We ended up fighting about it which included him taking a plastic racing helmet I had with me, putting it on my head and pushing me into the side of his house. I in turn picked up a bubble mower and hit him with it. 25 years later we're still best friends.

A few months later my oldest brother set our house on fire. My two brothers were the only ones home at the time. They were supposed to be walking to school which wasn't too far from out house but my oldest brother said he forgot his coat or something and said he needed to go back and get it. My other brother decided he was going to go back to the house too. My sister was with them and they told her to go ahead and go to school so she wouldn't get in trouble for being late. So I don't remember the actual fire or anything but what I do remember was walking through the burnt down house looking for my Donald Duck which was nowhere to be found. I'm sure it burnt up. The house was destroyed.

The last memory is from my 4th birthday which was in December. I had a Mickey Mouse cake that my mom made and I got a bunch of Mickey Mouse toys and stuff. What really stands out to me though was that it was my first birthday since my parents had divorced. My dad moved out in May of that year. Anyway I remember impatiently waiting for my dad to get there. I kind of remember when I would hear a car I would go look for him. When he finally arrived the party was over. He had some excuse about getting pulled over for running a stop sign or something stupid. As a 4 year old obviously all I cared about was that my dad was there even if he was late. Little did I know that would set the precedent for my relationship with my dad.

There's some small stuff I remember like an apartment that my grandma lived in that had a lot of stairs. Every time we went to visit her I would say that I wanted to walk up the stairs myself and we would get part way up and I would ask my mom to carry me the rest of the way.

When I was 4 I busted my head open while sledding. I stood up while we were going down the hill and another sled hit us and it caused me to fall hard enough and land on the back of my head that it bled. I remember sitting in the er with my mom and she had my blood all over her shirt.

Last one. There was a teacher at the school in my town that every body loved. I remember the first time I met him I was 4 or 5. I was at a school basketball game and I wanted to go look at the trophies in the cases. My mom let him take me to go look and while we were looking I got tired and he had to pick me up and carry me back to my mom. That guy was the best teacher ever. I would stay after school at times while he was doing crossing guard duty and then I would help him do stuff in his classroom and he'd drive me home. When he died a few years ago the only family he had was an estranged sister and she didn't want him to have a funeral or anything so my brother decided to put together a memorial in his honor.

Most of my childhood memories that actually have had an impact on my life revolve around my mom and grandma. Those two were the biggest factor in shaping me into who I am. The good parts at least.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It's interesting to consider that incidents we remember specifically from childhood often have elements that weren't true.....or were they?

When I was 4, I was standing on the diving board of a pool, ready to jump in near my 2-year-old brother, who was in the water right beneath me. I intended to miss him narrowly, yet wound up jumping right on him and dunking him underwater. Nothing bad resulted. Of course he cried and I got in trouble.....the little shit.

The illogical part was: What was a 2-year-old doing in the deep part of a pool, where a diving board would be located? The aspect that aggravated me most was my parent's contention that there was no way I could remember what I was claiming to remember, because I was too young. I recall asking if they remembered the incident....and they did....so if I was describing exactly what happened, how could they insist I had no way of remembering it?

It was never resolved. My parents remembered the diving board and my landing on my brother, but could never answer whether the board was located in the deep end of the pool.

Naturally, I've enlisted the finest investigative teams from M.I.T. and Stanford to research the incident, but they could come up with nothing, either.

 

[Dagger Dias]

What's your first/favorite childhood memory?

Of what impact did/does it have on your life?

I'll answer both.

I am unsure if it is my very first memory or not, but it is one of only two memories I have from before I was old enough to talk. My parents were visiting friends of theirs. They brought my older sister and myself along to play with their kids. Us kids had gone up into the attic to play their Nintendo (we are talking the original NES here, as it was in 1987) while the adults were talking downstairs. They turned on Super Mario Bros 1 and my sister was playing as Mario. She handed me the second controller saying "Here, I'll be Mario, YOU be Luigi". So I played as Luigi in World 1-2 of Super Mario Bros 1, I have since remained a gamer my whole life and never looked back. That moment had a rather big impact being my first time ever playing a game, and I couldn't even talk yet.

As for my very favorite childhood memory.... It was from my 2nd grade year. I had been renting Final Fantasy 4 (known then as FF2 on the SNES in the states) often but did not have my own copy until after over a year of trying to beat it but a weekend rental never being enough time. I told a classmate who also played the game that I was finally going to get my own copy of it, and invited him over for the weekend. We ended up doing nothing but play FF4 that entire weekend. Started from the very beginning with the intention of beating it as neither of us had before. We made it all the way to the Dwarven Castle (which is maybe 2/3 in, or so, for those who have not played it) and then he had to go home. I kept playing for as long as I could before my parents made me go to bed. I made it to the Evil Wall fight at the Sealed Gate (which is 3/4 in when you count the optional quests) when I was finally forced to turn the game off. Between re-enacting the scenes as they happened and just having a great time staying up late gaming, fueled by nostalgia, makes that one of my favorite childhood memories. It was nothing short of epic at the time, and while I had similar experiences with other games as I got older (FF6, FF7, Goldeneye, Smash Bros, Mario Kart to name several), this was the first of those types of non-stop gaming weekends for me and to this day remains one of my fondest memories.

 

[Cereal Killer]

My earliest memory comes from the age of 2 or 3 years old, when I was getting a haircut, and my dad was trying to keep me awake (I was always lazy), during the cut. I know it's random, but I remember every detail of it. It just seems to be one of those memories that always remains at the back if my mind.

Now here's the weird part. That is a memory which I just can't drop for some reason, and seems so special. . A few years ago, I actually had a dream that I was a barber, and was 2 or 3 years old. Just like my memory, it's something I can't drop, and seems "different" to my other dreams, similar to how my earliest memory seems different to all my others.

I was thinking that maybe that's all trying to say I should be a hairdresser, which I have no interest in by the way, but I'm very vein when it comes to my hair, and for some reason getting it cut every 4 weeks seems so important to me. My barber for 7 years had just recently retired, and I actually analysed a lot of my friends' hair, just to decide who my next one should be.