In an interview about "The Small Assasin" (don't read this one while your wife is pregnant folks - YIKES!)Mr. Bradbury stated that he was a ten month baby and that his memory goes back to the moment of his birth. I knew a girl who remembered being born and people's earliest memories are a fascination of mine and I have a theory about it. What is YOUR very earliest memory? However vivid or vague, how far back does your memory go?

Assassin - geeze. I swear I can spell.

1974. I was two and had just moved out of my crib. I don't remember my crib at all but I remember it being a big deal that I now had a "big boy bed." After a few short nights in my new bed I awoke in the dark and couldn't find Twigs, my blue teddy bear. I searched for the light switch on the wall near my bed and couldn't find it. I must have been disoriented because when I looked for the door to get out I couldn't find it either. I remember feeling trapped in my room as if the lights and the way out had smoothed over and disappeared. I panicked and started screaming bloody murder. My parents' room adjoined mine through a closet that had brown accordian doors. I heard my dad crashing over the shoes and through the layers of clothes to get to me. He picked me up, turned the light on and grabbed Twigs for me. I think that scarred me pretty bad because my mom tells me that I never slept in my bed after I moved out of my crib. They would put me to bed only to find me sleeping on the seat or the back of the couch in the morning. My parents don't remember that incident and I don't remember going into the living room but I am sure it is why I didn't sleep in my bed in my room.

From
Greentown
Illinois:

WOW!
One of my favorite subjects. Remembering back as far as you can.

The earliest specific thing I can remember... is being circumcised. Thru the years I have figured that it was the sharp pain that 'photographed' the moment for me in my memory. I vividly remember the doctor's face, there was a hand on my chest, and a curtain of sorts about my head. I was probably a month old...

I remember tons of stuff when I was 1 year old, or less. For instance, when the ice man would deliver ice for the fridge; or crawling on the floor, and being in the stroller; playing with the beads on a simple wire strong across the tray of the stroller.

By 4, I still thought everyone knew what I was thinking because, that made the most sense ...and wasn't everything built around...that!?

Later, by 6 or 7, my life got very confused. I remember very well finally realizing that the only hope I had ...was when the older me would rescue the younger me. This was one of the truly great realizations of my life...

Nard,
Thanks. I believe that our earliest memories are something that was not part of our routine that, as you perfectly call it, photograph something in our minds. Something is different, a switch is thrown and we turn on. I was speking with an 11 year old girl who described being in her bassonet perfectly but she didn't necessarily access the memory directly - it was accessed through childhood dreams. Interesting.
This is one of my favorite subjects as well.