okies, poets, what's your...

[butters]

...earliest memory?

 

[UnderYourSpell]

sitting in a pram under a Horse Chestnut tree, which I believe is still there!

 

[Angeline]

Funny you should mention. I was just reading this novel where some of the characters break into Yiddish on occasion and some of the words they used triggered a memory of sitting on my mother's lap while she would point to various features--my eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands and last belly button--and say the words in Yiddish for them, which I would repeat after her. I would imagine that was somewhere between ages two and three. I also have a memory of my grandfather surprising us with a visit around the same time and I know it was before I started school or even was getting ready to start school, so again around age two or three.

And yeah I still remember those Yiddish words in the order she taught them to me.

How about you?

 

[butters]

sitting in a pram under a Horse Chestnut tree, which I believe is still there!

how wonderful! roughly how old do you think you were, Annie, and do you remember how you felt at the time? i hope it was happy.

Funny you should mention. I was just reading this novel where some of the characters break into Yiddish on occasion and some of the words they used triggered a memory of sitting on my mother's lap while she would point to various features--my eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands and last belly button--and say the words in Yiddish for them, which I would repeat after her. I would imagine that was somewhere between ages two and three. I also have a memory of my grandfather surprising us with a visit around the same time and I know it was before I started school or even was getting ready to start school, so again around age two or three.

And yeah I still remember those Yiddish words in the order she taught them to me.

How about you?

i was a little unsure about creating this thread here, in case there were those amongst us whose first memories were unpleasant or even awful. it's good to hear yours were so fun! your words recreate a cute scene for us to view, and it's easy to imagine you laughing did you like your grandfather?

mine? hmmn. it has to be the most tranquil and beatifically happy remembering of my life. no sense of words, a mute, mobile snapshot of my mum chatting away to a neighbour (they were wearing mini-dresses) as i lay on my back in the pram. naked feet waving about, no covers, a broiderie anglaise sunshade and - what pulled me the most, made me feel supremely at peace and one with nature - a flawless, endless blue sky pulling me in and in and in.... so, it must have been summer and, from what i can work out, about 6 months old.

 

[Angeline]

how wonderful! roughly how old do you think you were, Annie, and do you remember how you felt at the time? i hope it was happy.


i was a little unsure about creating this thread here, in case there were those amongst us whose first memories were unpleasant or even awful. it's good to hear yours were so fun! your words recreate a cute scene for us to view, and it's easy to imagine you laughing did you like your grandfather?

mine? hmmn. it has to be the most tranquil and beatifically happy remembering of my life. no sense of words, a mute, mobile snapshot of my mum chatting away to a neighbour (they were wearing mini-dresses) as i lay on my back in the pram. naked feet waving about, no covers, a broiderie anglaise sunshade and - what pulled me the most, made me feel supremely at peace and one with nature - a flawless, endless blue sky pulling me in and in and in.... so, it must have been summer and, from what i can work out, about 6 months old.

I adored my grandfather--my mom's dad. He was very European, had emigrated from Poland as a teenager to Ellis Island and he never really lost that sort of old world sensibility. And he loved all his grandkids. He was a wonderful man.

 

[todski28]

No comment

 

[butters]

I adored my grandfather--my mom's dad. He was very European, had emigrated from Poland as a teenager to Ellis Island and he never really lost that sort of old world sensibility. And he loved all his grandkids. He was a wonderful man.

you, and he, were clearly lucky to know eachother

No comment

hope there are some early happy memories for you, tods

 

[todski28]

you, and he, were clearly lucky to know eachother


hope there are some early happy memories for you, tods

I remember the first time I tied my shoes, at around about 2 years old and that's as far as I'll go with it. I have one or two earlier ones but they are not so very good, I have had an odd and interesting life that is for sure

 

[butters]

I remember the first time I tied my shoes, at around about 2 years old and that's as far as I'll go with it. I have one or two earlier ones but they are not so very good, I have had an odd and interesting life that is for sure

*breaks my heart*

if you could tie your shoes at 2 you were some very smart child. *nods*

 

[todski28]

*breaks my heart*

if you could tie your shoes at 2 you were some very smart child. *nods*

apparently, I wasn't smart enough to not run inside from out the front screaming in excitement, then getting a beating for being out the front hahaha

 

[butters]

apparently, I wasn't smart enough to not run inside from out the front screaming in excitement, then getting a beating for being out the front hahaha

*cries*

 

[todski28]

*cries*

regret nothing form the past, grow form it and move forward, or you get bogged down in why me, fuck feeling sorry for yourself, I had years of self pity amidst a slew of drugs and bad decisions, celebrate with me that without it I wouldn't be here

 

[butters]

regret nothing form the past, grow form it and move forward, or you get bogged down in why me, fuck feeling sorry for yourself, I had years of self pity amidst a slew of drugs and bad decisions, celebrate with me that without it I wouldn't be here

yeah, will do - and while i'm about it i'll point out your flippin' typo ^^

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Not sure how old I would be but I probably wanted to be out and doing! I never crawled but bumped along on my bottom then got up and walked. I remember running down that country road to catch fairies (dandelion seeds) and we left there when I was 3 so once I found my feet there was no stopping me!

 

[butters]

Not sure how old I would be but I probably wanted to be out and doing! I never crawled but bumped along on my bottom then got up and walked. I remember running down that country road to catch fairies (dandelion seeds) and we left there when I was 3 so once I found my feet there was no stopping me!

*smiles at visuals of annie bum-bumping along*

but annie, listen up - i'm trying to pin-point if you can actually recall - re-feel, if you like - how you felt at that moment in time.
there's the visual/audio memory, but i want to know who else has the memory of the physical/psychological sensations that accompanied these events and if it's that sort of layering of intensity that makes these such potent and enduring memories.

 

[champagne1982]

I was playing with the baby who is my best friend (she's 6 months older) sitting on the floor in the kitchen. She was being a bit of a tease and because she could run faster than I, got away before I could grab her hair. I must have been around two, Apparently our scuffles happened frequently enough that some memories blur. We also used to bake beer cap loaves of bread on the oven door of the wood stove in her Granma's kitchen and always ate them with Campbell's tomato soup but we were closer to 5 then. There were card games every Sunday (Bid 500 and Euchre) as soon as supper was finished and the dishes were being cleaned up. I'd sit on whichever adult lap was available and steal sips of whatever beverage they were drinking. My first taste of beer happened at that table when I sipped the foam off my Unca Dot's IPA lager.

 

[butters]

I was playing with the baby who is my best friend (she's 6 months older) sitting on the floor in the kitchen. She was being a bit of a tease and because she could run faster than I, got away before I could grab her hair. I must have been around two, Apparently our scuffles happened frequently enough that some memories blur. We also used to bake beer cap loaves of bread on the oven door of the wood stove in her Granma's kitchen and always ate them with Campbell's tomato soup but we were closer to 5 then. There were card games every Sunday (Bid 500 and Euchre) as soon as supper was finished and the dishes were being cleaned up. I'd sit on whichever adult lap was available and steal sips of whatever beverage they were drinking. My first taste of beer happened at that table when I sipped the foam off my Unca Dot's IPA lager.

what are 'beer cap' loaves, tess?

kids are funny wee creatures (i use that term advisedly, ) and it's sometimes surprising what they remember. my eldest would have been getting on for 2 when i'd be pushing him around in his big pushchair in the summer, one of those larger ones than we tend to have today; he remembers sitting up, the colours of the chair and the views over the park, but most of all he remembers feeling like a king (his words) driving his car and the world running past him. strange boy

 

[champagne1982]

what are 'beer cap' loaves, tess?

kids are funny wee creatures (i use that term advisedly, ) and it's sometimes surprising what they remember. my eldest would have been getting on for 2 when i'd be pushing him around in his big pushchair in the summer, one of those larger ones than we tend to have today; he remembers sitting up, the colours of the chair and the views over the park, but most of all he remembers feeling like a king (his words) driving his car and the world running past him. strange boy

Whenever her Gram was baking bread we'd get a few little scraps to bake. Our loaf "pans" were bottle caps (mostly beer) and we'd wind up with a dozen or so of our bottle cap shaped loaves of bread.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

what are 'beer cap' loaves, tess?kids are funny wee creatures (i use that term advisedly, ) and it's sometimes surprising what they remember. my eldest would have been getting on for 2 when i'd be pushing him around in his big pushchair in the summer, one of those larger ones than we tend to have today; he remembers sitting up, the colours of the chair and the views over the park, but most of all he remembers feeling like a king (his words) driving his car and the world running past him. strange boy

I'm very flattered to have my writing confused with Champie's but our childhood's are another thing altogether.

 

[butters]

Whenever her Gram was baking bread we'd get a few little scraps to bake. Our loaf "pans" were bottle caps (mostly beer) and we'd wind up with a dozen or so of our bottle cap shaped loaves of bread.

cute

 

[Remec]

Wow...all this talk of prams and the like...the memories that are as far back as I can picture don't really have any thing dating them, but I know I was already a toddler but not in school...just little snippets of this and that:

• one of my mom's brothers popping into the living room at my Nanny's home and surprising us
• getting certain presents from family or early childhood friends
• being at my Uncle Joe's wedding...or at least the reception
• playing with black olives on a picnic with some aunts in California

There's no real sensory input from most of these besides sight, but now and then I'll hear a snippet of something from the mid to late 60s or run across a scent that invokes something from being a small child...my memories tend to run more like silent home movies.

 

[butters]

I'm very flattered to have my writing confused with Champie's but our childhood's are another thing altogether.

sorry

i have no idea why i mix you two up - it might be something about the avatars, but apart from that i haven't a clue.

 

[butters]

Wow...all this talk of prams and the like...the memories that are as far back as I can picture don't really have any thing dating them, but I know I was already a toddler but not in school...just little snippets of this and that:

• one of my mom's brothers popping into the living room at my Nanny's home and surprising us
• getting certain presents from family or early childhood friends
• being at my Uncle Joe's wedding...or at least the reception
• playing with black olives on a picnic with some aunts in California

There's no real sensory input from most of these besides sight, but now and then I'll hear a snippet of something from the mid to late 60s or run across a scent that invokes something from being a small child...my memories tend to run more like silent home movies.

oh, i would think for most if not all of us these are just fragmented moments, remec, like little glimpses. wonder why that is about the sound thing? maybe sound was less important to us as babies? *shrugs* touch, scent, a full stomach - they were probably the most important things before colour and even movement.

loving the black olives thing

there are others i remember, one involving some version of sound, but i can definitely recall the sensation of hard-gumming the cot bars to alleviate the itch and burn of teething. there was dribble. lots of dribble. but man did it feel good to chew on those bars.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

It's odd it should be mentioned about fragments of the past suddenly surfacing because something odd seems to be happening to me. As many on here realise I was an abused child and I have blocked a lot, but I have been getting bouts of nausea that last a few minutes then pass. Once they have passed I carry on as normal and it seems to me that they are being caused by certain situations that nearly bring a memory but not something I can grasp yet. I don't know if memories are trying to surface or why now in particular but I wish they would find some other way of doing it, as this way is very distressing and now the process has started I don't seem able to stop it. Perhaps my mind thinks I can handle it now ....... whatever I've blocked. Who knows?

 

[butters]

It's odd it should be mentioned about fragments of the past suddenly surfacing because something odd seems to be happening to me. As many on here realise I was an abused child and I have blocked a lot, but I have been getting bouts of nausea that last a few minutes then pass. Once they have passed I carry on as normal and it seems to me that they are being caused by certain situations that nearly bring a memory but not something I can grasp yet. I don't know if memories are trying to surface or why now in particular but I wish they would find some other way of doing it, as this way is very distressing and now the process has started I don't seem able to stop it. Perhaps my mind thinks I can handle it now ....... whatever I've blocked. Who knows?

could be, annie, could be.

after what you've been through recently, in fear of losing ron, perhaps something in you has said 'well, hell, girl - you got through that, now you're strong enough to handle the memories with an adult perspective, rather than being totally undone by the fears as a child experienced them'. i wish you the strength, the calm, the peace that dealing with these things will hopefully bring you.