What is your earliest memory?

[Queen of the Ryche]

Imagine a ship full of hard working sweaty men, at sea for months at a time, with no female companionship...........compare this to men who would listen to "Ring My Bell", and draw your own conclusions...........(You're probably too young to recognize the song I made reference to.)

[Clodfobble]

Navy men put salt in their coffee, I hear.

[warch]

I know about things that happened to me a at very young age through stories and pics, but I cant really remember them. The earliest undocumented things I truely remember are from 3-4 yrs- senses like climbing up on the bricks in the fireplace, the tree in the back yard, the layout of the old house, and my cold metal highchair. And being in the back of the stationwagon, too! lying down to sleep, hearing the road crunch under the tires, its just starting to get dark, and the trees look like broccoli.

[kerosene]

I think my earliest memory was that of trying to crawl around a rocking chair...one of those ones with wood and the fun 70's wicker design. I also remember my dad stuffing my head in the blue flower patterned couch to pull a popcorn kernel out of my nose. This had to be before I was 2, since they lived in a college dorm when the popcorn kernel happened. I also remember nightmares from when I was little. one was oversized Sesame Street characters pulling me into the tiny TV and me finding myself a tiny insect in comparison to the puppets. Another dream I had included a purse with a bunch of tiny legs chasing me in circles while my mother and grandmother stood in the middle of the circle talking to each other while I screamed for their help. One other was me standing on the molars of a gigantic mouth and trying to cross the tongue to the other side where my friends were, but there was a train coming from the back of the throat so I was scared. I think all of these happened before I was 3 or so.

[Undertoad]

My second earliest memory is that of a wooly-bear caterpillar. Mom showed them to me in a book, and I was immediately terrified. These creatures have an identical head and tail! My brain latched onto that... and that night I dreamed there was one on my blanket.

My most prized posession, invaded by my most feared demon. I bawled. I remember the page in the book, I remember the dream, I remember the fear, I remember crying, and I remember my mom and dad looking over the crib to see what the hell was suddenly wrong with this kid.

It's my only memory of my dad, who died when I was 3.

[busterb]

Hell I hate to get in this. No one is old enough to know what I'm talking about.But I still remember parts of a nightmare when I was small.
Katz and Jammer kids were riding a little train around in the house, my Dad was holding me & green leaves were going into his pocket.

I have no recall of this, but after I was discharged from Army I went back to old hometown and Dad introduced me to old barbershop owner. He asked, Is that the little shit that through a pack of firecrackers in my shop?

[Kitsune]

Katz and Jammer kids were riding a little train around in the house, my Dad was holding me & green leaves were going into his pocket.

The best are the fever-induced nightmares that you get when you're real young. Oh, man, I don't think I'm even going to try to describe those. Words couldn't do it.

[lookout123]

i do remember at a very young age (couldn't place it exactly), waking up from a nightmare where i was in a little sailboat that had arms that wouldn't let go of me. i still remember the feeling of waking up absolutely scared shitless.

i remember that the exact scene i dreamt was in some kid's movie i had seen that night before i went to bed. i think there was something about a piccolo and a dragon or something. i don't really know about that, i just remember that dream. to this day if i have a nasty dream, i wake up thinking about that one.

[chainsaw]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Navy men put salt in their coffee, I hear.

Ew.

[BigV]

Reminds me of a youthful prank I once pulled. It was at the babysitter's house, Mrs. Wright. I mischeviously opened her sugar bowl and her salt shaker and poured the two together, one to the other, like a fancy bartender trick. Recapped both containers and sat, all "innocent like". Til the next day. Man did I get in trouble for that.

I guess Mr. Wright wasn't in the Navy

[Jacquelita]

Originally Posted by wolf

...I loved Sally Star. I do have memories of watching her while wearing my cowboy hat and sixguns from atop my trusty rocking horse (the molded platic/rubber type with the springs suspended from the metal framework) who was named "Uncle Roy" in honor of my pediatrician....

Wolf (my rocking-horse soul sister!),

When I saw this post, I knew EXACTLY the type of rocking horse you were speaking about. A present for my 3rd B-day, this was one of my favorite toys in my early years ( to this day, I love any type of rocking or swinging motion)

I was also a big Sally Starr fan. For some reason I can't recall, my favorite part of the show was the mail (remember the off-screen "pony express" would gallop up and throw the saddlebags of mail into the shot then gallop away)

Some of my other favs from my youth include Chief Halftown, Captain Kangaroo and Kimba

[BigV]

J--your pony is in my basement right now. Picture upon request.

[Jacquelita]

You have a pic of my pony? This I have to see...

[mrnoodle]

Hey, I have one too. It's been through 2 generations of cowboys so far, and no signs of wearing out yet. I just got goosebumps - seeing that picture immediately brought the sound of those springs to my mind.

You reminded me of some fever-induced dreams I had in my yoot. I don't even like to think about some of them...they were very dark for a kid that age. But the most common one was this one: Every door in my house was closed, and if I opened it, someone would be standing on the other side, silently smiling at me. A big, toothy smile. No words, just the smile. I'd close the door and go to another one, there's my sister. Same big silent smile. I wanted to run screaming out of the house, but at age 4 your only security is your family...who do you run to when they're all catatonic and possibly demon possessed? lol eww.

[Trilby]

When I was a wittle bitty thing I was convinced that my sweet Momma was really a horrid witch in disguise. I remember her kneeling down by my bed at night so we could "say our prayers" and just waiting for her to rip her Sweet Momma mask off to reveal her true, wicked-witch self. It made bed-time very emotional for me.