The very first thing I can recall has bothered me for some time now.
In this memory -- which is definitively mine -- I am lying in a deckchair near a swimming pool on a ship. Having this memory never caused me any problems because when my folks, bro and I emigrated from the land of my birth to our new home, we went by ship. This was a fair few years ago, before Jumbo jets, and most people travelled long distances by liner. So there I was, a boy of (I have always assumed) about 2 and a half years, lying in this deckchair and watching a man dive into the swimming pool. He had dark hair and black swimming trunks. There were two (youngish) women seated in chairs by the pool, chatting to eachother and smiling. I recall this few-second image so well; I can even see the railings around the ship's deck: they were the rope-to-loop-to-pole type, the sort of thing they use these days to herd customers in banks and airports. I don't recall every detail of the two women's faces, but they both had shorter, styled hair and wore one-piece bathing suits. I guess my main focus was on this man, flying through the air towards the water.
Well, that's my earliest memory. Now comes the bothersome part. When my grandfather passed away four years ago I went to his home in the Old Country to take care of things. I was going through some boxes of old pictures and found a postcard that Mom and Dad had sent him from a port on the way to our New Country. The postcard was of the ship (on which we sailed), taken from the air and showing her sailing across the sea in all her glory. (Forgive me if I'm un-PC and make the ship feminine.)
It shook me, that picture, because it was perfectly clear that that ship didn't have a swimming pool. It also didn't have the looped-rope railings. They were plain, straight and -- I later learned from asking my Mom, who confirmed there was no pool -- made of metal.
But I remember it! It is undeniably me in that memory. But studying it now in my mind's eye, as I've done many times since that revelation, I can see that while the man gives no clues, the women's hairstyles didn't fit the era. They were from about a generation earlier. So I got to wondering: how do I have this memory? Was Jung right? Or is there some other explanation?
I'd love to know, and also I think it would be fascinating if you can share your own earliest memories...
Whyc
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WhyChromosome posted on Aug 29, 2006
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Danj3ris said on Aug 29, 2006....
My earliest memory:
I was sitting on the faux persian rug that sprawled across my living room. I was playing with a lite-brite which was powered via an extension cord that ran from the kitchen. My parents were in the kitchen.
I completed whatever project it was that I was working on and wanted to show my parents. But I wanted to unplug the lite-brite first. But I couldn't. The connection was too tight. So I proceed to bite the point where the lite-brite and the extension cord connected in order to wedge it loose.
The next thing I know, the world turns blue with all outlines of every object show as a white squiggle, as I hear a massively loud buzzing noise vibrating throughout my body. A few seconds later I drop the cords and start to wail. My parents emerge from the kitchen and rush towards me.
I believe that may be my first memory.
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secretlife said on Aug 29, 2006....
My earliest memory - I believe I was 4.
(my sister cannot believe I have no earlier memories; but honestly, I don't)
I have a twin sister. The two of us were out in front of our house playing something with a ball.
We weren't supposed to be playing ball out front. It got away from us and went into the street.
I ran after it, not looking before entering the road.
A car was going down the street.
My sister stood frozen at the curb.
My father at the front door - also frozen.
The car skidded to a stop and honked it's horn.
My father ran out and grabbed both of us and was yelling.
I got a spanking....and a lecture.
Sometimes we think we remember things, but we've embellished them without realizing and then the made up version becomes 'real'....also i think other people's memories often influence our own without our realizing it...
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WhyChromosome said on Aug 30, 2006....
Danj3ris -- Wow, that's really some first memory! Looks like your guardian angels were kept on their toes :D
Secretlife -- Ditto for you! But hey - here's a whole new world of interest. You have a twin? That must be wonderful (and at times annoying, I guess). It would be great if you could tell us about any "twin" experiences you have had, like those that have been reported in many cases and places. My sister and I aren't twins but we're very close; for example I recall when we both bought my Mom identical birthday cards... We weren't even living in the same town at the time!
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secretlife said on Aug 30, 2006....
i've done that with my twin also; we're both big on cards...
i've done a post about her already-
i'm trying to mix my posts because the sex stuff gets more people and i figure if I get enough readers maybe they'll read the rest of me too! lol...i know, i'm simple.
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Expendable said on Aug 30, 2006....
I remember my first nightmare. I was 3 or 4.
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ellaywest said on Aug 30, 2006....
I was about 2 or 3...I remember my father drinking beer from a yellow plastic cup and it was tall and thin. He let me sip some and I have always thought it was disgusting!!!!!
Oh and I remember my mom trying to give me a Gerry Curl but it wouldn't take because my hair was very very rough.
Alos, I was wonder woman for Halloween...might have been 4!!!
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WhyChromosome said on Aug 31, 2006....
Fascinating stuff... Thanks to ALL of you! Now I have to go and read YOUR posts (and maybe write a few replies) :D
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