Please State Your Earliest Memory, and Your Gender

In My Humble Opinion
101

Female.

One that I can pinpoint to just under 18 months. My parents were driving across country, and we visited my grandmother. I was sitting on the floor, and I remember Grandma’s husband reaching down to pick me up. He died before the family saw him again. That memory is more like a slow motion or stop-motion movie.

My next memory was riding on my Dad’s shoulders at the King Dome, going to a baseball game. Estimated age two and a half. It was the first time I remember recognizing my reflection as me.

First traumatic memory was when I tripped on a root in the woods near our house just before my third birthday and ripped my lip one one side about an inch into my cheek. I clearly remember falling towards the ground (again, slow-motion), and having to be held down in the emergency room while I howled and they put in the stitches. And the two orange popcicles they gave me to calm me down afterward.

102

Youngest datable memory was when I was four. I tried to carry two glass gallon jugs of milk up our basement stairs. They clinked together just right and broke, with the milk cascading back down the steps.

I may have a memory from when I was three or less, but I’m not sure if it’s real or constructed from what I was told. When born I had a crooked foot that was corrected with the wear of a shoe that had a strap attached to it that was gradually tightened, straightening the foot and leg. I have a vague memory of being put to bed, and having the shoe and leg strap being removed for the night.

I’m female.