Ron F

My first memory was "reading" a Huckleberry Hound cartoon on the couch at home and falling asleep.

Anum S

I was around 5 and distinctly remember looking in the mirror, wondering how or why this particular face and body was attached to me, instead of all the other possibilities that could have been. Was this particular face and body the right one for me - maybe it demonstrated to the world who I really was when they couldn't hear my thoughts?

Sarah H

I was 4 years old and exploring our vegetable garden with my mom when we found a mouse. Maybe one of the cats had killed it or maybe it was just its time to die. It was dead, I was curious, and I asked my mom if we could cut it open.

Sonia L

In Romania, when I was maybe 3, being outside my grandmother's apartment, with another kid, and a table plate (I don't know how it got there). I remember being really fascinated by the design on the plate.

Nadeem L

I was about 4 years old. Being outside in our townhouse complex, I was called to play with two other boys. I feel like it was my first time outside the townhouse with two other people, but it's also my first memory, so who knows? They led me to see something 'neat' in the garbage dumpster. Once I had climbed high enough to see wha...t they were looking at, they each grabbed one of my legs, and threw me in the dumpster, closing it. I don't know how long I was in there. My sister Salima heard my cries, and opened up the top door and pulled me out. This earliest memory of mine was the first of many more encounters with bigots in my life.

Dustin B

Burning both of my hands on the kerosene heater in the rickety old house we used to live in.

Stephen V

I was standing in the bathroom at my old house talking to my mom about how it wasn't 1987 anymore, and that now it was 1988.

Elena L

Screaming and yelling when my grandparents took me to the hospital to visit my mother and newly born sister. I had to be escorted out by a security guard as I punched and scratched and kicked everything I could. I was 3.

Vojta D

I must have been less than four years old as there existed a law in the czechoslovak republic at that time that prevented children of such age to fly abroad. As it was common at that time, my young family - my father, my mother and my brother who was and - however much I try - still is four years older than me, headed down south to the Bulgarian coast for the summer holidays. i remember myself standing on a car park surrounded by large anonymous buildings of prefabricated concrete - holding my grandparents hands with the two small hands of mine.

naturally, due to the small size of my brain and the greatness of stupid laws, I did not understand a thing. thus, i simply starred at this young familiy that was leaving to godknowswhere. i cant remember whether i was crying or not. and i suppose that does not even matter.

one year later we left the czech republic to start a new life in germany. i remember myself clinging my hands (by then a little stronger) to the wooden doorframe of our house, not wanting to go to the Kindergarten. I cried - in czech, mind you: "A NEBUDU mluvit nemecki. Ja chci za babičkou a za dědou" ("And I will NOT speak German. I want to go to my granny and granpa"). However, I went to the Kindergarten and I do speak German by now.

tENT

I really have multiple memories vying for the position of "earliest memory"
wch include a memory of making a secret compartment out of large
cardboard boxes on the concrete patio behind the house I spent
ages 2 to 22 in & separation anxiety dreams about being separated from
my mom & sister (long since not a problem in my psychology!) but the
one I seem to've settled on is this dream:

I was probably around 2 or 3 (we're talkin' 1956ish here).

I was in the penthouse of a very tall skyscraper. The space between the
wall & the floor started opening up & Mr. Tooth Decay started coming out.
(Mr. Tooth Decay was, of course, a cartoon figure used in commercials
to scare kids into taking good care of our teeth) MTD was coming
threateningly toward me to pull me into his netherworld. Mighty Mouse
(a cartoon superhero) flew in thru the window to rescue me. MM grabbed
me & we flew out the window. I was holding my security blanket but I dropped
it. We were flying very high off the ground but when I dropped my SB I pushed
away from Mighty Mouse to try to follow & rescue my blanket.

I reckon I awoke w/ a start there. Now, as I recall, one of the reasons
why I had falling dreams is b/c my sheet & blanket(s) were tucked between
my mattress & my boxspring &, b/c of this, I wd sleep cocooned off the
side of the bed. The weight of my body wd gradually push my 'cocoon'
down to the floor - hence the falling.

- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - recalled July 4, 2011E.V.

Bree C

My 4th birthday "party." We had zero money because my birthday, my brothers birthdays and Christmas are in the same month. I was allowed to pick my favorite food and my favorite activity and I could do it all day long at home. I picked macaroni and cheese and ate it in the bath tub for 5 hours. Best birthday to date.

Nate M

Looking at the sky through the branches of a baby peach tree and discovering science

Ashling L

My grandma is walking me to school. Her hands are soft, the skin is loose and feels cold. She's wearing her blue and red blouse and her pearls. The trees lining the school grounds are turning fire colours. Dry leaves crunch under my feet. I'm wearing my Babar raincoat, the one with the fuzzy lining, and carrying my Babar backpack. I can smell my grandma's talcum powder and perfume. When I look up at her, the sunshine makes her perm look like it's glowing. Once we're at the school gates she tells me to "Work hard, be good, and remeber that you're a Ligate!" Grandma doesn't give kisses but instead gives me a little hug. She's so bony and small. I know she loves me.

Meg Q

My cousin’s sitting in my chair. It’s a little red rocking chair with my name on it and it’s mine and she’s sitting in it. But I’m too small to stand up and pull her out, or use words. I just remember being SO MAD.

Also, playing puppies with my dad on the living room floor, with sloppy kisses. I think I kept trying to lick him.

Weronika K

When I was less than two years old, me and my parents lived in my father's bachelor flat (one room, 9'th floor, little space for the family but they were young and me, I was still unconscious). I don't remember how the studio looked like. In the same time my parents form time to time traveled to Hungary. It was still the communism in ...Poland and people were very poor, so they traveled to Hungary to sell things because Hungarian were even poorer and had nothing in shops. I remember the moment when they were leaving flat to go for a train, I stayed with my aunt or someone who took care of me and I remember old, big wardrobe near the doors throug which they were leaving.

Rick R

When I was about 2, I remember standing outside of the house we would soon be living in.

Julia B

I've got two memories from when I was very young: My Grandma died before I turned 3 and I remember visiting her in her nursing home. I remember holding someone's hand and skipping down the hallway, knowing that I was going to see her. But then all I remember was her wrinkly old roommate beckoning me over to her to give me a hat she made her me. I was terrified and hid behind my Mom's skirt.

The other one is me in my crib, holding onto the bars and jumping. I remember the light fixture in my parents' bedroom, and my Mom smiling and saying something to me.

Catherine M

I was around 4 years old, living in a native community called Allenwater where my father was a teacher. I was in the one room schoolhouse, surrounded by teenagers. I had my favourite doll with me, a Cabbage Patch doll named Sarah. They started to make fun of me and my doll. Suddenly one of the teenagers grabbed Sarah and laughed a...nd jeered, passing the doll around to the rest of the group above my head. I jumped and reached for my doll, shouting "give her back!" Eventually Sarah was returned to me. My mother later explained that the reason they had behaved this way was because they never had toys like I had since their families were poorer than us. Then I felt very sorry for them, wishing they had toys too.

Thom D

my father was still at seminary in east liberty and we were staying at one of the apartments when i was three. i had opened the front door naked while my mother was vacuuming and she was yelling at me to shut it.

Zoe K

I'm 2-years-old, playing with wooden blocks in the living room and watching the news on TV to impress my dad.

Angela G

I'm in London, Ontario staring up at the world's creepiest clown hanging on the wall.

Reena R

It's a quiet and sweltering afternoon in Dubai, and Florine (my nanny, playmate and alternate parent) and I are sitting on the carpet of the bedroom we share with my brother and sister. Everyone's napping in the house, and it's cold and calm from the buzzing air conditioning. Florine's braids hang low on her loose patterned dress and she's wearing a wide smile. She rolls a red and blue ball in my direction and I squeal as it comes towards me and I finally hold the rubber in my hands.

Samantha P

My six-month-old sister was in the ICU, and my whole family had come into the city. Everything seemed very dark (the hallways, her room), and in my toddler brain I remember thinking that despite how nice everyone was being, something must still be wrong, what with all those tubes and machines and whatnot. She pulled through - and I, like most people, hate hospitals.

Celeigh L

I'm living in a big house in the Glebe in Ottawa, with a big winding staircase down to the living room. It's Easter morning, 1993 and I'm walking down the stairs to where my mother sits by a table. All of my Easter presents from the Easter bunny have been laid out. The first thing I find is a chocolate ladybug, which I unwrap immediately and stuff in my mouth before my mom can chastise me about breakfast. She does anyway. Later that day I'm in the basement bathroom, watching my dad shave. I ask him what he's doing. He explains it to me. I have no idea what he's talking about.

Annette K

I am inside a duvet with my sister and feathers are everywhere. We have dug ourselves in here during a hide and seek game with our mother. First into the duvet cover where we crawl around until we find the bandaid-covered tear. We rip off the plaster and widen the tear with our little arms until it is big enough to allow our small nak...ed bodies inside. Then we dissappear.

I can hear my sister laugh as we throw feathers at each other. My skin feels soft and clean as the feathers wander or rest on it. Sometimes they tickle. The sunlight that comes in here makes my sisters hair look even blonder. I try to stand up, but topple over.

We are unaware of the feathers that escape outside and trickle down everywhere in our parents' bedroom. Gladly my mother, unaware of the hide-and-seek game, will not be checking on us for the next little while.

Kate K

I have extremely terrible long-term memory... what I can remember of my whole childhood is patchy at best, so most of the *strong* memories I do have are of "extreme" times. This is my strongest and most coherent of early memories, so I've decided that it's my first: I can't remember exactly how old I was, but I think maybe around 5 years old, given the context and how old my brother must have been. I was at my grandparents' summer trailer up north and decided it would be a good idea to pull my brother around on a lawn chair with a length of rope attached to it.

I guess the chair must have snagged on a rock or something, because I tripped, let go of the rope, and fell into the fire pit. There was no fire burning at the time (thank god), but there were quite a few hot embers, which burned and got stuck to my left elbow. My memory kicks in a bit later, with vague memories of the frenzied ride to the hospital, but it's not very clear.

The next thing I remember is being at the hospital, and sitting on the doctor's table... she (I think she) has to use tweezers to pick the ash out of my burned skin... it's very painful.

The strongest part of this memory comes later, when I'm lying down at the hospital... I'm not really sure why I'm lying down and why there's no one else around, but the nurse has set up this toy clown that plays music and spins around maybe...... to put me to sleep or distract me from the pain. It's terrifying as fuck, and with that image in my head I go to sleep. I still have very faint scar in the shape of two triangles on my elbow and a vague fear of clowns.

Angela D

I was at my grandmother's house in WIlno, Ontario. It was early evening in the summer, and the strong sun had softened and lit everything with a golden orange glow. The shadows were long and stark. My dad picked me up and carried me down the paved driveway, I felt exhilarated to be that high up. He took me to the fence across the ...road where two horses stood grazing on the long grass next to it. He whistled and beckoned a horse near and it sauntered over and poked its big head up to greet us. Hot horse breath smelt like tangy sweetgrass. My dad reached out and petted the horse's face and encouraged me to do the same. Snuggled safely into my dad's collar, I stuck out tiny fingers to stroke the horse's nose. I was absolutely stunned at how soft and warm it was.

Peter D

only a smattering of memories here. and there's no chronological order.

hiding under rhubarb leaves maybe. I must have been small.

Rebecca H

My earliest memory is when I was 6 and getting ready for first grade. Mom made a lot of our clothes, and this time she as fitting me for some plaid dresses. I remember a green plaid and a red plaid dress, each with white collar trimmed in rick-rack. At Christmas time that same year, I remember being settled on my grandmother's couch, then handed my new baby sister to hold.

Evan C

I'm in a stroller and it's late spring/early summer. It's a warm day with just a hint of a chilly breeze from the ocean. The sky is a clear, vibrant blue and the trees have small new leaves. My mother is pushing the carriage down the cracked, uneven sidewalk and talking to my father. She's wearing a sun dress with a small floral print.... We're headed down Main St towards the fisherman's wharf and this picnic park where folks go to watch the ocean from the cliffs (and smoke pot I would later find out). The houses in this area are in ill repair and I remember noticing that even as a very young child. The tone of their conversation seemed quiet and sad but I'm not sure I understood what they were talking about. I don't remember making it to the wharf but I have a distinct memory of passing by the lumber yard on Main. My parents split up when I was young and I didn't see my father for 20 years. This is one of two childhood memories I have of him.

Brian D

When I was about 3 or 4, sometime in the summer I decided I wanted to go outside to see my dad in the front yard. He was doing some yard work or something. So, I went to the front screen door but my big sister Roxanne stopped me in front of the screen door. Then I gave her a hug and she let me outside!

Anetti T

My mum and I walked past the giant Gründerzeit house, she was born in, in Duisburg, Germany, were my gandma also lived, past the graveyard. I was walking on her hand. Then she said to me that my grandmother, her mother, died in the hospital. I was silent. I remember that I felt like I was supposed to cry. So I did. Best I could.
I was two years old. I had no idea, what 'dead' means, naturally. But my mom was sad and I could sense that.

But I remember an even earlier memory than this one:

It must have been a few weeks before. I was walking with my grandma and her sister and my mother through a shopping street in Hamborn. I remember the stones on the ground, they were octagonal black and white giant stones. The sun was shining and I saw a little pink rubber rabbit rid...ing a skate board on my eye height on one of those turning stands. It had long slinky arms and legs that could be positioned because they had wires inside and I wanted to have it. Very persistently. My mother was annoyed but my gandma bought the rabbit for me. I remember het face smiling and the huge long dress that she was wearing. This is the only memory I have of her. I was told that she gave me candy at the last time we visited her before she died from breast cancer, but I don't remember that. I loved the rabbit dearly and twisted its wire legs and neck until it fell into pieces years later and disappeared.

Margarita O

I have so few early memories, they now just exist in a grouping of sorts, a little trajectory of moments. I can't put one temporally before the other.

I remember the train station we lived next to in the centre of Minsk. The sounds of the trains and the tunnel you walk under to get to our house.

I remember sitting in the heat under a big umbrella in Yerevan, eating chocolate ice cream from a beautiful glass bowl.

I remember crawling inside a berry bush in our backyard so that I could pick all the berries from the inside. My father not knowing I was inside the bush began to water it....it seemed so magical...all these streams of water pouring down on me.

Erin O

I am in an outdoor courtyard, playing by myself. I am tracing my fingertips over the mortar between the bricks of the building that is my daycare.

I follow a trail of black ants down, up, over the bricks, until they disappear into a tiny crack in the wall. I pick a booger from my nose and wipe it on the brick wall. Satisfied with the size of the booger and the long smear it made, I dig deeper to try to find an even bigger booger. Success. I take that booger and make a sticky little road for my ant friends.

I try for another booger. I push my finger up, up, up, pull it out and observe my findings. BLOOD! I put my hand on my nose and pull it away. MORE BLOOD! Panic stricken, I scream and run toward the nearest daycare attendant.

Next thing I remember I am being held in the arms of the daycare attendant, inside the building. We are sitting in a rocking chair and I have a tissue stuffed up my nose. I see my mother walking quickly into the room. She is tall, thin, and dressed in her crisp, blue, Coast Guard uniform.