Does anyone have fairly large chunks of time in their past, that they can't remember?

[AimeeM]

I don't remember a lot until I encounter something that triggers a memory. For instance when cleaning out my parents house after they passed I found things, a kick knack that used to sit on a particular shelf or an old book of my dad's or something and that will trigger a little memory and then that little memory will trigger another and so on until I begin to remember a lot more than I thought I would, but sometimes it takes days for memories to be triggered. For instance, once I was at a used book sale and I ran across an old textbook I used in 4th or 5th grade and that got me thinking and then I started remembering the different teachers in my school and different classmates and different incidences in the classes. It is kind of mush at first but over time the images can get clearer, even if they stay somewhat random. But I find remembering things takes time and focus. At first I feel blank but then memories percolate up. And since the passing of my parents I have to say I try much harder to remember, my childhood and memories of my mom and dad are very, very precious to me now.

 

To the OP do you have photos of yourself homeschooling? Do you have any copies of old notebooks or books or anything like that? I'd try to find ways to remember.

 

My fil doesn't remember much of his childhood at all. His mother was unstable and would stick him in orphanages for years and then take him out only to stick him back in after a few months. I don't know how he turned out to be such a sweet, generous, hard working guy. He is very jolly and busy all the time, but if you ask him about his childhood, he'll say it is just a blank to him. It was like he was born at the age of 18 when he joined the army.

No pictures of homeschooling (and that's saying something because there are tons of our childhood, just no homeschooling pics, oddly enough). Lol. My mother said she used Abeka because that's all she knew of, but I remember nothing of it.

[Kareni]

I'm another one with a memory like a sieve. I remember little from my childhood and memories from even five or more years ago are vague. My husband is my opposite and has a fantastic memory. My mother says she remembers being born.

 

I heard a program on NPR one day about memory -- people who can't remember much of anything vs. people who remember EVERYTHING. The people who remember everything tend to be depressed, and the people who forget everything seem to be happy. Interesting.

 

Interesting .... I'm a happy person, my husband is far less so.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[vonfirmath]

There are huge chunks that I prefer not to think about. Nothing abusive -- more along the lines of "what was up with that?" Wow, I did some amazingly stupid stuff. So I don't spend a lot of time reflecting on those things. (And, in the thread about shopping, I'm one who makes my purchase and gets on with my life ;) )

 

I heard a program on NPR one day about memory -- people who can't remember much of anything vs. people who remember EVERYTHING. The people who remember everything tend to be depressed, and the people who forget everything seem to be happy. Interesting.

 

That fits our family

I don't remember hardly anything and I'm fine with that (usually) My memories get much clearer with high school

 

My husband remembers a lot of details from so young that it makes me suspicious he's making it up sometimes. And he struggles with depression.

[Ailey]

I don't think it's too unusual. I took a class in developmental psychology a few years ago, and while I can't actually remember anything from the course material related to this, I do remember the professor asking everyone to write down all the memories they had from before age 5 and which of them was the earliest. I had 25+ specific memories, and the earliest was just before I turned two. Several people in the class had absolutely no memories from that time, and two girls said their earliest memories were from middle school. My dh remembers when his sister was born (he was 4) and nothing again until he was 8 or 9.

[vonfirmath]

I have one clear memory from before I was 5 (my 4th birthday party)

 

And maybe a second (though I think that one is more being told the story/seeing family pictures growing up!)

 

I swore, growing up, that the ONLY birthday party I had my whole life was that one when I was 4 years old.

 

Until a few years ago we were looking at family pictures and there were picture after picture of MY birthday parties -- none of which I remember. Even after seeing them.

[AndyJoy]

I heard a program on NPR one day about memory -- people who can't remember much of anything vs. people who remember EVERYTHING. The people who remember everything tend to be depressed, and the people who forget everything seem to be happy. Interesting.

 

Did they control for people who had self-described good/bad childhoods? My sister and I are the opposite of this. We both had good childhoods. I remember lots of detail but am very upbeat and optimistic. She remembers hardly anything (except some general impressions that I find to be really off from reality) and is often depressed. My excellent memory can be a bit of a downer occasionally if I dwell too much on hurtful/stupid things that I said/did in the past for which I cannot make amends. Usually, however, my detailed memory allows me to access happy thoughts and funny stories and feelings of love and acceptance. Maybe if my childhood was bad I would wish for a memory like my sister's, but I enjoy recalling "the good ol' days" (at the ripe age of 31). :laugh: My DH has a great memory too, but his childhood was not happy. So in his case, yes, having a good memory can be depressing. There are several stories he's told me once because he needed some support, but he doesn't want to talk about them ever again because they are painful for him. He's reminded of them sometimes and has told me he wishes his memory were worse. He does tend to be depressive.

[vonfirmath]

I have one clear memory from before I was 5 (my 4th birthday party)

 

And maybe a second (though I think that one is more being told the story/seeing family pictures growing up!)

 

I swore, growing up, that the ONLY birthday party I had my whole life was that one when I was 4 years old.

 

Until a few years ago we were looking at family pictures and there were picture after picture of MY birthday parties -- none of which I remember. Even after seeing them.

[Debbi in Texas]

I remember very little about my childhood, and that is probably a good thing :(. Glad to know I am not the only one.

[mommymilkies]

Mine is splotchy. I have super vivid memories going back to age 3 or so, but I also can't remember months or years from my life. I blame it on my teenage hobbies and later, a thyroid condition. ;)

[Sahamamama]

I asked my mother the other day if she had a photograph of my Kindergarten class. When she asked why, I told her I'd like to see it because I can't remember my teacher's face. I remember her shoes, her legs, and the hem of her wool tweed A-line skirt, but that's as far up as my memory goes, LOL. She played the piano, and I remember her foot on the pedal. I must have watched her feet, and not her hands. And, no recall of her face at all. Her name was Miss Kelly.

[Mrs Mungo]

Not really, but I am the oldest. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? My younger sisters definitely do.

[AndyJoy]

duplicate

[ktgrok]

Ok, so I'm not alone. I don't recall much pre high school to be honest and even not all of that is crystal clear.

 

I had to ask friends if I ever took an American History class in highschool. I had ZERO memory of it. NONE. And this was highschool! After I was reminded of the teacher's name, and who was in the class, I kind of remember it. I remember getting in trouble for being late. And I remember the teacher had big hair, and something about Tammany Hall or some such thing. And that's it.

[Hannah]

I barely remember my childhood. I also have lost lots of time as an adult. It is strange and while I know nothing traumatic happened to me, I do wonder if I was dropped on my head as a baby lol.

 

I was dropped on my head as a baby! My mother felt guitly about it for years..

 

I'm also the oldest and I don't remember much of my childhood. When I look at photographs I have a vague idea of when they were taken. My 'middle' sister is the same - she does not remember much.

 

My youngest sister has an incredible memory. She can remember the pattern on a distant relative's carpet and can't understand that we don't recall the strange colours! My mom died when I was 18 and they were 15 and 11 and it really bothers my middle sister that she can't remember much of my mom.

[cathmom]

My mother says she remembers being born.

 

 

One of my children remembered being born when she was a little girl. She suddenly said, "I hit my head" and looked really upset. She repeated herself and then looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Mommy!" she was posterior and a large baby and her birth was quite painful for me. I smiled at her and said, "it's perfectly fine" and gave her a big hug and she was happy again. I don't know if she still remembers this now though.

[Pippen]

I have a brother who is 4 years younger than I am. I can't recall a single memory from our early childhood that are of the same event or experience.

[LucyStoner]

Yes. For me, it is very much a function of instability of food, housing, location with lived, school etc. Read: we were dirt poor and moved a lot. I can give a long speech just listing the places we lived and the schools I attended (some of which I can't name, just describe). I remember a lot but I forget a lot. It's all very film snippet. Then there were a number of very traumatic events at age 11 that while I never forgot, made and to an extent still do make, me pretty darn fuzzy on ages 11-13. Once in high school my memory gets to the freaky detailed and clear range. I made a positive choice to change my life at age 14 and that, apart from being older, is likely why I recall so much more.

 

I think one thing that helps with having a clear childhood memory is staying in the same place. Easier to remember your classmates and teachers etc if you were with them from K-12. My husband's childhood was financially privileged but far from idyllic or trauma free. But he has a very clear memory of many sorts of things I don't recall because he lived in 3 houses in the same area and went to 1 elementary, 1 middle and 1 high school. Until 10 grade I never went to the same school for more than 1 year and more than one school year was split between 2 or 3 schools.

 

What are people's first memories?

 

I recall camping in a VW bus, I must have been around 2, perhaps three and was wearing a pink jacket.

 

My next, and much clearer early memory is being at a swap meet/market type thing when my family was selling everything that would not fit into the aforementioned VW bus and moving to a new state 1/2 way across the country. My mother was a good salesperson and I remember her voice and tall stature and waist length hair as she haggled with people to get the most money for each random, mundane item. I recall my mother giving my brother some cash and we went and bought Michael Jackson t-shirts at a different vendor. This was a BIG deal to both of us. My brother and I held hands and I was so excited to get to go with him. I was 4. He would have been 10. a few days later we were on the road. There was no room with our belongings packed in to sit on the seats. He and I lay on top of blankets spread out flat on boxes stacked nearly to the ceiling. We rode like that the whole trip, sliding in and out off the top of the boxes to get out of the van at rest stops and gas stations. One meal we ate at a restaurant and I ordered french toast even though it was lunch time and everyone else was getting sandwiches. My little brother rode in a baby seat that was set on the floor between the driver's and passenger's seats. When we got here, I recall it was late and the city lights were glittering over the water and I thought the cargo unloader thingies at the Port docks were huge metal dinosaurs. Everyone was asleep but me and my dad who was driving. So I will have a complete recollection for a few days like that, but then not recall anything else for quite awhile.

[Barb_]

 

 

Me neither. I remember little and I tend to be on the depressive side of life.

 

Maybe she was remembering it in reverse because it's the opposite in my family as well.

[Dandelion]

I think one thing that helps with having a clear childhood memory is staying in the same place. Easier to remember you classmates and teachers etc if you were with them from K-12.

 

That's a great point.

 

We moved constantly when I was a kid. I was raised by a single mom with (to put it mildly) "nomadic tendencies". She just loved to move. Moving was also, by her own admission, her preferred problem solving methodology. If things got too hairy in one place, she'd just move us somewhere else.

 

From birth to age 18, I never lived anywhere more than 3 years. Sometimes we moved after just a few months. I lived in several different cities, states, and we moved back and forth between the U.S. and Germany (mom's native country) a few times. In first grade alone, I attended three different schools. One in the U.S., and two in Germany. I added up our moves once, and I think we moved 20 times by the time I left home at 18.

 

DH grew up on the family farm (in his family for generations) and lived there from birth to age 17. Same friends from kindergarten through high school. He remembers everything from his childhood. I'm the one with the huge memory issues.

 

Thanks kijipt- that totally makes sense.

[Barb_]

 

 

One of my children remembered being born when she was a little girl. She suddenly said, "I hit my head" and looked really upset. She repeated herself and then looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Mommy!" she was posterior and a large baby and her birth was quite painful for me. I smiled at her and said, "it's perfectly fine" and gave her a big hug and she was happy again. I don't know if she still remembers this now though.

 

One of mine described her birth to me when she was about 3 or 4 but I was never sure if she was making it up! She said, "Everything was squeezie and squeezie and squeezie and then I saw some light and I saw Daddy!" She was a homebirth and Rich caught her, so his really was the first face she saw. I think if medical personnel knew how aware newborns potentially are they would take greater care to treat birth with a little more reverence and respect. But that is a different thread for a different day.

[fraidycat]

If you're a freak, then I am too. I really think I'm just kind of "here", floating along through life - I don't really pay attention or something. Not only do I barely remember my childhood, I barely remember my KIDS younger years (they're only 10 and almost 7). Seriously. It's almost scary sometimes how much I don't remember. What makes it even harder right now is that DD has been on a kick for the past few months of "tell me all the __________ (scary, funny, sad, etc.) moments from when you were a kid/when I was little". Sadly my repertoire of stories to tell her is embarrassingly small.

 

Unless something similar happens OR somebody else tells of similar experience - then I can usually remember stuff. So, I guess the stuff is there - It's just filed in the deep, dark, dusty recesses of my "file room" that are rarely explored.

[LucyStoner]

My mother says she remembers being born.

 

 

 

I've heard of people like this. My dad claims to be one of them, even claims prenatal memories but my father is prone to exaggerate and some things he says clearly contradict family facts from his parents and his siblings, so I rather doubt he recalls as much as he thinks. I don't doubt that others are truthful about it though. It seems in the realm of possible for sure.

[Barb_]

So are people with good memories generally more present and aware than those with poor memories? My adhd girl has distorted memories like the poster upthread. She remembers one year Daddy didn't come home for Christmas (never happened) and that everyone was always mean to her (she was always starting trouble). Her younger sister remembers her toddler years (from 1-3) vividly and in great detail. She was also the one who used to sit on my lap as an infant and stare at my lips while I talked. She would soundlessly move her mouth along with mine. I've always been more tuned into subtext and body language than my husband...he's always a little confused as to the shifting alliances in our large household of women. I generally pay closer attention to our surroundings than he does and generally win arguments regarding how a recent event unfolded. He has large chunks missing from his past.

 

 

[fraidycat]

Well, I was brought home from the hospital to live on the farm. I lived my whole life on that same farm. My parents STILL live there - and my memories are vague, at best. My life was also, happy and carefree. Same school K-6, 7-9, 10-12. I graduated with people I went to kindergarten with. I have nothing traumatic to suppress, so that's not it. It's just the way my brain is wired.

 

I'm a visual person, though. Photographs will trigger some memories. So maybe that's it. I don't "think in pictures" even though I learn/retain better that way. Perhaps if I thought in vivid picture/color I would remember more.

[Barb_]

Well, I was brought home from the hospital to live on the farm. I lived my whole life on that same farm. My parents STILL live there - and my memories are vague, at best. My life was also, happy and carefree. Same school K-6, 7-9, 10-12. I graduated with people I went to kindergarten with. I have nothing traumatic to suppress, so that's not it. It's just the way my brain is wired.

 

I'm a visual person, though. Photographs will trigger some memories. So maybe that's it. I don't "think in pictures" even though I learn/retain better that way. Perhaps if I thought in vivid picture/color I would remember more.

 

 

That's really interesting. I think my husband is the same way.

[Dandelion]

So are people with good memories generally more present and aware than those with poor memories?

I'm present and acutely aware of what's going on around me. And yet, I don't remember much from my childhood up until around age 7. I don't have any memory problems as an adult. Maybe I didn't develop that awareness until later?

 

 

Well, I was brought home from the hospital to live on the farm. I lived my whole life on that same farm. My parents STILL live there - and my memories are vague, at best.

 

 

Hmmm.... Well, that just shatters my newfound theory from a few posts ago, lol. :lol:

[Barb_]

 

I'm present and acutely aware of my surroundings. And yet, I don't remember much from my childhood up until around age 7. I don't have any memory problems as an adult. Maybe I didn't develop that awareness until then

 

 

Could be. How is your memory now? Dh's and Dd's are still pretty bad and they are still pretty up in the clouds most of the time.

[Dandelion]

Could be. How is your memory now? Dh's and Dd's are still pretty bad and they are still pretty up in the clouds most of the time.

 

 

My memory now is fine as far as I'm concerned. I should qualify that though. I remember things that are important to me, or that I want to remember. DH will sometimes ask me about something we did a few years ago, or someone we met - and sometimes I honestly don't remember. Those events just weren't significant to me, so I don't retain them. I always thought that was normal, but maybe it isn't. Are you supposed to remember every single thing that ever happens to you as an adult? Because I don't.

[AndyJoy]

I moved all over the place (military father) but still have a vivid childhood memory. These places/people were significant in my life even if they were fairly temporary. From 10.5-18 I lived in the same house and attended 3 schools so my life was more settled. But since it was a military town others moved in and out of my life. I'm worse at remembering the people who passed briefly through my life when I was in jr./sr. high, like the kids who came to my tiny private school for a few months or 1 year. I remember people I knew for a short time when I was the one passing through, but have more trouble the other way around.

[ElizabethB]

I remember some things, but not others. High school is clearest. My earliest memory is from when I was 3 or 4.

 

We only moved once when I was growing up, across town when I was halfway through K. For many of my memories, I have only approximate time ranges, for example, I will say "I did this when I was around our age, maybe a year or two older or younger." My husband was a military brat and moved almost yearly when he was in elementary school. He will date his memories by saying, "That was when we were in Germany so I must have been 8 or 9 or that was in Kansas so I was 6."

 

The last time I visited my parents, they asked my brother and I how we learned to swim, if they taught us or if we took lessons. We all remembered that we took a swim lesson when we were older but none of the 4 of us could remember how we learned to swim. My parents joked that they must be really old because we were all forgetting things now. My mom says that the good thing about this is that you can re-read your favorite books and still enjoy the ending.

[AimeeM]

If you're a freak, then I am too. I really think I'm just kind of "here", floating along through life - I don't really pay attention or something. Not only do I barely remember my childhood, I barely remember my KIDS younger years (they're only 10 and almost 7). Seriously. It's almost scary sometimes how much I don't remember. What makes it even harder right now is that DD has been on a kick for the past few months of "tell me all the __________ (scary, funny, sad, etc.) moments from when you were a kid/when I was little". Sadly my repertoire of stories to tell her is embarrassingly small.

 

Unless something similar happens OR somebody else tells of similar experience - then I can usually remember stuff. So, I guess the stuff is there - It's just filed in the deep, dark, dusty recesses of my "file room" that are rarely explored.

 

Bolded. Me TOO. Well, I had my eldest at a very young age and I don't really remember anything about her childhood until age 5. I had to call my aunt to ask if she remembers how I potty trained her (my eldest) because I needed to help my middle son potty learn. Lol.

[Chris in VA]

Well, I will politely disagree with this and say that sometimes people tend to repress the traumatic events of their childhood, and therefore they "forget" the good with the bad.

 

OP -- I will ask you this: What smells take you back to those years? A perfume? A food? A flower's scent? I believe that some smells can trigger our memories. Also, if your parents are still living, why not prompt them to tell you about this season of your childhood? Ask your mother what kind of perfume or powder she used to put on, or what kind of shampoo she used on your hair. Ask your dad if he wore a certain kind of cologne.

 

 

Just wanted to add that smells are extremely powerful triggers for me. I remember my mom's perfume (Here's My Heart), the smell of the birdseed in the feeder (just had that recall this week as I bought some for dd to spread), the smells of certain plants/flowers/leaf loam of the woods, etc. Even more recently-significant smells bring me great pleasure--When we moved back to this area after 15 years, I visited the apartment building we used to live in, and it smelled exactly the same, and I remembered the feeling of living there (not events, really, as those aren't super-dim, but just a feeling from the past).

[amydavis]

My earliest memories are from around the ages of 2-3. I remember hiding behind the couch when I was probably 2ish and sneakily eating chocolate. I remember my mom was vacuuming and that she stopped for a moment to ask me what I was doing back there. I said "playing" and she resumed vacuuming. I always thought I got one over on her, although in retrospect she must have known, and either ( a ) thought it was cute and or funny, or ( b ) was simply relieved that I was out of her hair for a moment.

 

Hmm, either way, there began my love affair with chocolate, LOL.

[J-rap]

This is a fascinating subject! I do find it interesting that you don't remember anything at all from that period, because I assume you would have been 11 or 12 by the end... I know people who have very few memories of their childhood, but they do have sporadic images of a classroom, their friends during that time, etc. My husband has very few memories of his past. (And I'm talking before his stroke, although his memory has not been affected by the stroke, thankfully.) He says he remembers only the times he failed at something. (He had a lovely family life as a child, no abuse or anything! But I know he was always hard on himself.) I don't even think he remembers when we got married! He is a brilliant man. I really believe he developed all of his brain paths in different areas, which encouraged his astute thinking but ignored memories.

 

I on the other hand remember childhood events clearly, down to specific conversations, body positions, facial expressions -- even at 3 years old. (And I am a cheerful person!)

 

My sister has very few memories of her past, all the way through college. My mother always said she had to double remember everything, for herself and my sister. My sister has epilepsy, and doctors have attributed her poor memory to that. Her after-college memories are quite clear, but by then doctors figured out how to better treat her seizures.

[Tammyla]

What an interesting thread. I'm going to call my sisters later and compare memories.

[kalanamak]

What an interesting thread. I'm going to call my sisters later and compare memories.

 

My brother, 9 years older than me, once said: Did we go on the same trips?

[Mergath]

I have very clear memories from when I was a toddler up through about eighth grade, then high school is very spotty. I don't remember much from my year after that in a CC, either. I actually have a couple very vivid memories from when I was still crawling, but my temporal lobe has some abnormalities, so who knows how that affects my ability to remember stuff.

 

It is a bit strange that there is such a long period of time you don't remember at all, OP. Did you perhaps meet a British man in a big blue box during that time? That could explain it. ;) :D

[AimeeM]

To reply to the NPR post (about happy -vs- depressed and memories):

I have no memories of my childhood, but random traumatic happenings. I am a perpetually upbeat, optimistic, and silly/cheerful person (most of the time, lol). My husband, who remembers EVERYTHING about his childhood, does tend to be more of a pessimist, but I wouldn't classify him as sad or depressed on any level. Sometimes I wonder if the reason he remembers so much is because the does, purposefully, cherish all memories he has of his childhood prior to his mother dying when he was 11. His childhood was still very good even after she passed (close knit Italian family; his father raised him and his younger brother with the help of extended family in a multigenerational home), but he was very close to her and does try to hold on to every memory he has.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I have to disagree with the NPR story. I have a very patchy memory of my childhood, but DH remembers minute details back to toddlerhood. I am the one who has a long history of depression, and does not have depressive tendencies at all. He remembers every car his family drove, including the license plate numbers. I didn't have a particularly happy childhood due to bullying at school. I work hard at not recalling those events because they are painful for me. But, I vividly remember the feelings. Family members will recall events that I have no recollection of (which supposedly were happy events.) I am missing large chunks of my middle son's first two years of life - he was a very difficult sleeper (as in waking 10 times a night for weeks on end.) I will see pictures and video that I took, but cannot remember those days. I remember folding the clothes that they were wearing, but don't remember events.

[Word Nerd]

Given the studies that have been done about false memories, childhood memory recall, and "flashbulb" memory studies surrounding major events like the Challenger disaster and JFK's assassination, how can even be sure that the memories we have from childhood are authentic and accurate?

 

For example, I have a vivid snapshot memory of drinking paint thinner that I thought was Kool-Aid and having my stomach pumped when I was 2. When I later described this memory to my mom, she said that it wasn't the way it happened. Our kitchen didn't even have the features I was recalling. I did hear my mom tell the story of that scary day to me and other people several times. What I am likely remembering is what I pictured in my mind at some point while listening to her or Dad talk about the event—not recalling the event itself.

 

I'm not doubting those who claim to have vivid memories from a young age. I just think it's an interesting topic to think about. I don't make too much of my childhood memories or worry that I don't recall as many as other people do.

[LibraryLover]

And that doesn't hold true for me. I'm a perpetually happy, cheerful, almost...ugh...perky person, but I have incredibly detailed memories of my childhood.

 

 

I wouldn't describe myself as perpetually cheerful, ;), but I am a positive person. I have very detailed memories, as well as very detailed dreams. I wonder if this is related?

[SKL]

When I was younger, I could remember things in ridiculous detail from before I went to KG (some as far back as age 2). I do not think there were any "gap times" after about age 4, though if there were, I guess I wouldn't have known about them, right? :) Beginning around age 30, my memory for details has declined, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

I was an extreme introvert who found it interesting to rehash my past a lot. For a while (as a teen) I was writing an autobiography, in case I ever got famous, LOL. This is likely the reason why I remembered so much. My friends who tend to be forward-thinking don't remember much from their childhoods.

[lovemykids]

I can't remember large chunks of my childhood. I'm glad I'm not the only one!

 

Same here..

:confused1: :001_unsure: Oh well..

[swellmomma]

For the longest time I could not remember my first 12 years of life, like until after I was 30 I had flashbulb memories basically but that is it. But I have noticed in the last couple years I am remembering more and more. Names of kids I went to school with are popping into my mind out of the blue, memories of things I did, or said etc just randomly coming to mind. Rhymes and songs and crafts and events all just coming through more and more. It is the most bizarre thing ever. Like flowers in a garden that took a long time to poke through the soil, nothing there for so long and now more and more opening up. I still have memory issues as far as telling you who I just met, I still suck and names and faces, I see alot of detail but don't seem to register it into memory kwim, like I can see it all and point out things others miss but recalling it later doesn't happen. I am not a chippy person but I try to remain as positive as possible.

 

The things I remembered from back then before this new re-emergence of it all, were traumatic things (like every detail of the car crash we were in when I was 10), or weird things (like remembering playing with a test tube laying down under a very bright light-later learned this was a memory of me getting stitches in my forehead at age 2, don't remember the stitches or why I got them-though I have been told why- but that light and test tube are vivid as all get out.) Funnily enough I remember certain dreams from back then with more clarity than any real life events. I remember little things like the green handled scissors in the scissor cup of my Kindy class, going to my gr 2 classroom to pick up a valentine's mobile art kit because I was too sick to be in school and the teacher wanted me to make the fun stuff (I was out of school for almost 2 months that year, I remember the tests and my mom crying alot but without people telling me now about the illness itself don't actually remember being sick). I remember being 9 and finding my dad's stash of playboy under the head board of their water bed and finding my cabbage patch doll that was to be my xmas present hidden in a suitcase in their closet that same year(I was apparently a snoop back then). I remember making ants on a log in kindergarten but not who my teacher was, who my friends were etc. My only memories of age 5 at all are green handled lefty scissors(I was mad I couldn't use them) and ants on a log, that's all. My only memory of age 4 is sitting in a police car to go around the block(apparently we had a police man come to the preschool class and we all got rides around the block in the car). and stuff like that but a lot of stuff is coming back to light. Things I never knew that I actually remembered kwim.

[BugsMama]

I don't remember much from 19-23. It was a time in my life when I was in a bad marriage, and had a religious falling out, and a divorce. I remember moments of terrible things, like the really bad stuff, and remember being so tired in the aftermath (as a single mother working and in school).... but just this last week I got a facebook message from someone, I couldn't remember her at all. I mean, once she reminded me, I knew we lived together for like 6 months, but she fondly remembers our friendship, and I can't really remember HER.