Memories Meme
(Yellow Dawn, by artist Ken Bushe. Find more of his work here.)
I saw this short meme on Lotus Reads and Stealthybean recently, and thought it was a kinda nice one…list three memories from your early childhood. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember a lot of my early childhood…images, glimpses of moments that were transitory and are now lost…but I’ll try for a few anyway, OK? Here goes.
- I remember waking early one morning, before anyone else, and looking out the windows, and the whole sky was yellow. The whole wall was windows, it seems to me, so the view was pretty spectacular. Most of my sky memories are of blue sky, or grey sky, this is my only yellow sky memory. Talking to my mom years later, she said that was during a visit to my great aunt’s condo in Capitola, CA, which is right on the ocean, and she did indeed have large picture windows to show off the view. Or at least, I THINK my mom said that. It’s been 25 or 30 years since we even talked about it…
- When I was about 4 1/2, we moved from sunny CA to a homestead outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. It was a small house we were living in so some family who was homesteading the land could leave to take care of sick relatives. The driveway from the road to the house was about 1/4 mile long, and it crossed over a small creek. The bridge over the creek was made of logs, and was perhaps bumpy because of that…I’m not sure. What I do remember is that there was a big square hole off to one side of the bridge. I’m not sure what that was for. Perhaps to drop a bucket down to get water from the creek for washing dishes (we had no running water)? I remember thinking it might be for fishing. Anyway, that hole used to scare me, because I thought the tire of our car would get stuck in the hole, and we wouldn’t be able to get the car out. We didn’t have a phone, and the closest one was about 2 miles away, and winters were sometimes south of 60 below, so it’s not like help would have come quickly or easily…but I suspect my mom never worried about the tire getting stuck. In retrospect, I don’t even know if the hole was big enough to worry about.
- While visiting my grandparents in Stockton, maybe before we moved to Alaska, I’m not sure, I decided to go for a walk. My grandma said that was OK, but I was too young to cross the street alone, so I should not cross any streets. I was bored with grown up talk, and wanted to take a long walk. I decided the answer was to go around the block. A block has four corners, and four sides, and should be shaped like a square or a rectangle, so I figured I could enjoy my walk, get to see some pretty groovy sights, all without breaking any rules or crossing any streets. I went out, turned right onto the sidewalk from the driveway…walked and looked at plants and bugs and all sorts of summery things. Walked to the corner, turned right, saw ladybugs and grasshoppers and daisys and tall green trees. Next corner, turned right, more of the same lovely stuff, two more right turns, and now I should be on the street that my grandparents lived on. And yet…here I was at another corner. I had not crossed any streets. I had turned 4 right turns, so why was I at a 5th corner, and why hadn’t I passed my grandparents house? I was scared…scared to cross the street, because I wasn’t allowed. Scared to turn and retrace my steps, because CLEARLY I had done something wrong, and I might end up even more lost. So what did I do? What any reasonable child of my young age would do. I stood there and cried and cried. Finally, someone came to rescue me. I think it was my grandma, but I honestly don’t remember. They had finally started to worry about where I might be, factoring in my reputation for being a VERY slow walker, and my reputation for enjoying stopping to look at bugs and flowers, and even factoring in those things, I should have been home by now. So out they went, looking for me, and I was stuck at a cul-de-sac. Didn’t occur to anyone, I don’t think, that I would actually try to go all of the way around the block, so they didn’t tell me about that. Whew. Scary day.
Those are three of my early memories…vague and faint, and yet still there, part of the texture of my life. How about you? Post three memories on your blog, and tell us about it in the comments, and I’ll come check it out. 🙂
14 Comments
Py Korry
I knew about #2 and #3, but your #1 memory I’ve never heard before. 🙂
Ml
You remembered quite a bit. It’s amazing how some things stand out and others don’t.
I posted three memories in my blog 🙂
Beenzzz
Number 3, would have scared me too. I remember something like that happening, but I was on my bicycle. Glad you did the meme. It was a fun one to do!
dew
I have a memory very similar to number 3, but it involved walking home from school and missing my turn. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been expected to walk a mile home by myself on the first day of second grade in a new school, but at the time, I stood there and cried until a high school girl found me and walked me home, sort of like your memory.
Autumn's Mom
I’ll tell you one of my scary ones here. I think I was about 4 and I remember going to our little local grocery store which probably wasn’t very big. I must have stopped at the candy/toy machines at the front of the store while my mom got the cart and went on into the store. It was probably less than 5 minutes but I looked up and realized she was GONE. In my little mind I thought she was gone forever. I think that was the first of many many panic attacks I’ve had in my life. Of course she came right back for me. But it seemed like an eternity.
Cherry
Those were great memories to capture (by great, I don’t mean great that you were scared, but great stories to tell).
I’ll have to think about this one. I too have one similar to #3. Probably a few actually.
wanderlust scarlett
You moved from California to Alaska? That’s more than just a culture shock. Wow.
That walk around the block reminded me of a walk I went on… little girl, one street, no corners, went too far and got scared, saw a pay phone and called 911. I was crying… I’m lost… they came and found me, and took me home. I was one block away. It’s kind of funny now, but not then!
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
Starshine
The thing that’s so sweet about #3 is your absolute obedience to not cross the street! You were so diligent to follow the rules, but still got lost. 🙁
You described each memory with so much detail! Great post.
Maya's Granny
The hole in the bridge was just a hole in the bridge, I suspect it had developed over time. It wasn’t useful for anything. And the first time I drove over that bridge I wasn’t sure the whole thing wouldn’t collapse and I made you two get out and wait to cross on foot until I got the car over and came back for you. After that, I was quite confident in it, but I remember that first crossing well. There was the hole, which was way too small to catch a tire but big enough to make me wonder if the bridge was falling apart, and there were no guard rails, and it was a narrow, home made bridge.
Lotus
J, so glad you were inspired to do this meme…you have such a great memory, I admire how you remember events with such clarity! I’d love to read more about your childhood in Alaska, and wrt #3, being lost has got to be the scariest feeling in the world for a child!
So enjoyed reading this post, thanks!
ally bean
Oh dear. Stuck in a cul-de-sac. I can understand how that could happen. Poor little you.
lalunas
If you keep turning right you would of ended up at grandma’s, stupid roads. Isn’t weird what our memories choose to remember…
J
If only that cul de sac hadn’t been there, I would have been fine… The four rights would have made me on the right road. Actually, I WAS on the right road…just that there was a street in front of me that I wasn’t supposed to cross.
Jenny
You were so hilariously blond in that third memory. That totally remind me of Julia. I love it 😉