close
    Can you recollect your oldest memory? Then read on.

    I was between two and three years old at home with my  dad on a sunday morning. I was playing with some small wooden blocks while dad was listening to the radio. After some time there came what to me sounded like a strange noise out of the loudspeaker and I asked my dad what it was. He didn't understand what I meant and so I carried on playing. After a minute or so back came this noise and this time I shouted to dad "There, there!". Dad explained to me that it was the audience clapping and because I didn't know what clapping was he explained how and why they made this "noise".  


    That is my oldest memory. Can you remember what yours is? Then tell us about it!

    +9  Views: 1298 Answers: 14 Posted: 13 years ago
    melandrupert

    very good question!
    itsmee

    Very good question and excellent answer. Many people can't remember back that far.
    west-bus

    I am little late I know but I just wanted say a big thank you to all who replied. I enjoyed reading them again, so much so that I couldn't decide on a 'Best Answer'. They are all interesting.

    14 Answers

    I can remember sitting on red concrete steps and my sister nattering to me, apparently I was about 2 and mum said she was telling me to call her teacher walking past "pooh bum".not very earth shattering,but my first memory.

    itsmee

    pooh bum?

    I remember being in a hospital crib with white metal bars. My mom walked out the door leaving me. As the door closed she peered through a window in the door at me. I had a hernia as a small baby and had a surgery. I don't know how old I was but my mother was shocked when I asked her where that memory might have come from.

    michmar118

    How old were you? Certain situations and emotions make a firm impression on the mind and memory, even at very young ages.
    mom

    I must have been pretty new to the world, the hernia was caused from crying. I know my mom was shocked that I could remember that far back.

    Was maybe  4 or 5 and I had the flu... I went into my moms room where her hubby or boyfriend told her to get me out of there...  I promptly threw up grape kool aid all over thier bed... I still cant drink grape.

    lambshank

    Hi itsmee,I think thats probably the worst word my 4 year old sister could come up with at the time, I know she copped a good slap on hers for her trouble!

    I was one year, 8 months old and I can remember hearing on the radio that JFK had been shot. I heard my mother cry out, "Oh, no!" She dropped a plate and began crying. I had no idea what it all meant but I went to her and tried to stop her from crying. I wasn't scared really, just sad because she was sad. She stopped crying and told me she was OK, then went back to doing the dishes.

    michmar118

    That's incredible!! At 20 months of age?? And JFK's death? And remember to this day? And the emotions you recalled. All I can say is Wow!
    west-bus

    I too, like michmar, was astounded. "I went to her and tried to stop her from crying", ......".just sad because she was sad". I find it very touching, and for this answer alone it was worth posting the question. Thank you.
    michmar118

    West-bus.....Not to draw away from the question, but I want to say how gorgeous your black cat is in the pic!! Keep getting drawn in by him or her! Lovely creature.
    itsmee

    The books say that empathy comes in much later -- maybe 3 or 4. I have never believed it and your answer pretty much proves it. My daughter comforted me when I cried because we had to move. I picked her up and she patted my back. She was 22 months.
    Colleen

    Moderator
    It could be because I'm a Pisces and tuned into emotions by nature of my sign. According to my mother, I was an advanced child.
    itsmee

    Colleen ~ You are that. I am tuned in to emotions also to my detriment.

    The earliest I can remember is hiding behind the chest-of-drawers to put on my underwear because I was told that God was always watching me.....

    Colleen

    Moderator
    Do you know about how old you were?

    I use to do the same thing, lol
    jhharlan

    I have no idea but, I know I was really young. I don't even remember which house we were in but I know I was alone and that no one ever knew the story to have repeated it.......
    itsmee

    "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake"

    Never much liked that song about Santa Claws.

    I can remember being in a 'carriage' (baby stroller today) I can remember being very hot and thirsty, I can remember a big fence and a sign on it but I don't know what it said (obviously) I can remember a metallic spinner on a stick that was stuck into my bedding and the propeller spinning..  The color was metallic purple..    To this day, when I see this color (metallic Purple) in the sun reflecting into my eyes i will get really thirsty.. 


    This is what I can remember as my first..  

    michmar118

    Wow!! That is really amazing!! That much detail so young, and the conotation in your mind with the color of metallic purple and thirst, to this day. That is fascinating.
    Vinny

    Yeah, the human mind is an amazing thing. This truly does stick to my mind as the the first memory, its very 'enclosed' (surreal) like dream state.. I can see that fence and that sign it was on the chainlink fence I guess right in front of me, I could have only been weeks old.. Amazing also that when I see this purple metallic shine in my eyes that I get thirsty, its like I was given a suggestive message under hypnosis.. As a matter of fact, when i see this glitter of purple metallic with the sun reflecting, it really draws me in, a very passive state. I guess i should be pissed at my parents for letting me get so thirsty.. LOL, I have talked to my parents about this memory, my dad always said convincingly that this memory was Wright Patterson Air Force base.. He said that he remembers when we went there.. I said, me too but he always thought I was full of it.. LOL
    Flip

    I'm moving to Ca and open a bar next door to Vinny with stained metalic purple windows.
    Vinny

    Make sure you have dancing girls, I hate drinking alone..

    I remember playing (Pulling a small wagon) outside a house which we moved from before my 2nd birthday. Problem is, was it real or just something I saw in a picture later in my childhood??

    itsmee

    You remembered where you were. It was real, I think.
    michmar118

    Itsmee, that is the trouble I had in trying to look it up,......is it Wendy or Windy??? It sounds like Windy in the song but my stubborn mind wants to say its Wendy. Anyway, I'll find it! :-] Thanks for your involvements.

    Isn't it amazing how you know it's your oldest memory with all the millions or billions of memories we carry!??!  The mind is  mind-boggling!   My oldest memory is of me between 2 and 3 yrs of age. I know this because my Dad died shortly after my 3rd birthday, ironically, in a car accident at age 29..  I remember lying in the enormous back seat of an enormous car, (probably a GM, as my Dad worked at the GM plant in Wisconsin) in about 1965. I "know" my mom was in the passengers seat and my dad was driving along back, country roads. Just felt the gentle heaving and hoeing of the weight of the heavy car as it made it's way over bumps and around curves. No seat belts used then,  just rolling around in  the backseat like it was a king size bed. It was dark outside, and I remember the most the song that was blaring from the radio. It was "Wendy".  To this day I love that song and of course it instantly takes me back.  I wish I could remember details of my father, but I can only remember his "presence"in my earliest memories.  Have missed him all my life.

    Bob/PKB

    It was pleasant to share this memory of yours.
    itsmee

    I have this large lump in my throat and a kind of aching. Your story hit me SMACK.
    "Whose walking down the streets of the city?
    Smiling at everybody she sees.
    Everyone knows, it's Wendy!
    And Wendy has stormy eyes ... "
    Was it that song? That's the one that's playing in my head.
    michmar118

    YES, itsmee, that's the one! Am going to Google that song....it's been too long since I've heard it. I want to make a list of "songs I most want to hear and have" and have my husband burn a special CD of them for me,.....and that's the first one on my list!!! Thank you for sharing...
    michmar118

    bob/PKB, your responses are always from the heart, I can tell. Thank you for yours.
    itsmee

    michmart; I opened this up to read the responses to a friend. I also looked up "Wendy" I was close, but you gotta find it yourself. Very pretty song. You'll find it under "Wendy" but the artist wrote it as "Windy" Nobody sings it that way. : ) Just a little trivia for you.
    Bob/PKB

    I think the name of the song always was "Windy" and the song personified wind. That song is like a really good day.
    My youngest son enjoys music from the 50's 60's and 70's (but don't tell his buddies). He has made some great CDs for me...never get tired of some of those "oldies".
    michmar118

    bob/pkb...........You are right! It is "Windy". I found that out through my research as well. All these years I had it
    my mind as Wendy, as a well known girls's name but never researched it. Makes it more authentic, does'nt it???
    west-bus

    Does anyone know if michmar is still with us ?
    Bob/PKB

    I think she is, but not often. If I remember right, michmar118 had a different site name but lost her password and had to start again with a different name.

    It was during World war II. I was about 3 years old. My uncle who was in a wheelchair with MS. was watching me, while everone was gone to tend to the fields. There was a high stone wall around our farm with a door and a big high gate for the horses and wagons. Somehow someone did not latch the  door all the way and I went out the door and heard cats screaming. There was a pond in the middle of the village close by our farm and I went to the pond and saw kittens  screaming and struggling to survive. I walked in the pond trying to save them, when a neighbor saw me and pulled me out of the pond. The water was already up to my nose and I would have drowned, If my neighbor had not pulled me out.. He also brought the kittens out of the water and I dont know what he did with them. Those days there was no Animal control and most kittens were killed, because of overpopulation. Really sad. But that how it was in those days. 

    Ann

    Thank you. There are too many stories. Having to remember some things from the past can really shake you up.
    melandrupert

    Ann you are my sister I never had how lovely you went in for the kittens you are a angel god bless you Ann xxx
    Ann

    Mel.you are the nicest person and we both have alot in common, namely the love for animals.It was my grandfather who loved and treated every animal with respect.He was a good teacher and way ahead in his time.
    itsmee

    Oh Ann~ Thank you for sharing your story. That must have been an incredibly difficult day for your uncle. I'm glad your neighbor came for you. Angels surround.
    michmar118

    What a memory! I went back in time with you. I agree with fish girl and spaceghost, only a great soul would do her best to save another creature(s), risking her own life, at that very young age.

    We had company over one day when I was probably 4 . My hair was about as straight  and dark brown as hair can get. My younger sister (one year younger) had lighter hair with natural curls, one of which my mother combed on top of sister's head. 
    The company was going on and on about how cute my sister was with her little curl on top of her head.  I could have been an ashtray for all the attention I was receiving.
    I took my sister into my parents' bedroom, where she sat at the vanity in front of the big mirror, got the scissors out of the hall drawer and snipped the curl right off her head. 
    That was a very cruel act of jealousy. 

    itsmee

    You would have liked my grandpa. He cut his sister's pig tail off.
    michmar118

    I love it! You were a young child and just acted out what you were feeling. Wonder what it made the adults think and feel...........
    Bob/PKB

    itsmee: Yes I would definitely liked your grandpa!

    michmar118: If I remember right, they thought I was awful. I was, then! Now I'm just about the nicest person you will ever meet. Ask anybody! lol

    My oldest memory is of my younger sister Iris. I was about 4 yrs old, my sister was crying alot.  It was a dark nite, maybe winter, I dont know, The Doctor came in his car, and I can still see him, in my mind, with my little sister in his arms, going towards the door. Tears still come to my eyes when I think of it. Iris, never came back.

    itsmee

    And you brought tears to my eyes ...
    Dollybird

    itsmee, I had tears in my eyes, near end of what I was writing, Thank You.
    michmar118

    So sorry.....too bad this was your earliest memory, but at least you do remember Iris, and I'm sure she is very glad you do, too.
    Dollybird

    Thank you michmar118.

    i can  remember playing in the sandbox with my cousin and i had mom and dads copper salt and pepper shakers putting sand in them.....wow, huh. i think around that same time i left my tricycle behind the car and my dad didnt see it and broke my bike. you brought  back some memories i didnt know i still had.

    I dont know what age I was I think I was about 9 months old I was in quaratine due to whooping chough and measles and I remember seing my Mom behind glass and crying I hate hospitals to this day! I was there for six weeks then I remembered at about two years picking this cat up and putting it in my pram and wheeling it it round the garden I know what you guys are saying it would have to be a cat!

    Dollybird

    melandrupert, better than trying to perce my poor dogs ear with netting needle, I still have mark in my eye brow. Poor dog. I deserved it.
    melandrupert

    thanks Dollybird xx
    itsmee

    My mom always said my first word was CAT. I studied childrens' language and found out that little kids can't make that sound when they are young. They say mamama and dadadada first. What my mom meant was that I was drawn to cats in an extremely powerful way. And to this day, I love cats.
    melandrupert

    why thank itsmee I am glad you love cats well everyone knows that I do and do you know I was never allowed a cat when I was growing up though I always brought them home (cats dogs mice rabbits frogs ect) but was never allowed a pet Oh we did have a Budgie and he was called Freddie xxx

    This question just has to be my favorite, west-bus. 


    We left our Stockton, CA house when I was two. I have many memories of when we lived in Stockton. I could go on and on and on.


    Grass, a beautiful spring green color with dew drops on the thin stalks. Sun made rainbows.in the dew drops.  There was an astounding blue egg. Dad said "It's fragile." The sky was the same color as the egg! The sun was soft and not hot like it would be later in the day. The birds twitter pretty songs.


    I hear tell that I became bossy around all eggs. "Be fragile with the eggs!" I warned my cousin.


     


     

    michmar118

    There is much feeling in your written description. Is very nice to imagine in my mind your memory.
    west-bus

    Nice to read that again, thanks


    Top contributors in Family category

     
    Benthere
    Answers: 12 / Questions: 0
    Karma: 15990
     
    jhharlan
    Answers: 138 / Questions: 3
    Karma: 15860
     
    Bob/PKB
    Answers: 109 / Questions: 29
    Karma: 13505
     
    Ducky
    Answers: 65 / Questions: 0
    Karma: 10560
    > Top contributors chart

    Unanswered Questions

    Ok974
    Answers: 0 Views: 0 Rating: 0
    panoramagallerycom
    Answers: 0 Views: 4 Rating: 0
    J88 com
    Answers: 0 Views: 3 Rating: 0
    J88 com
    Answers: 0 Views: 2 Rating: 0
    J88 com
    Answers: 0 Views: 2 Rating: 0
    J88 com
    Answers: 0 Views: 1 Rating: 0
    Sunwindurban
    Answers: 0 Views: 3 Rating: 0
    > More questions...
    470270
    questions
    722746
    answers
    792067
    users