What is your earliest memory?

My earliest memory was sitting on the front porch steps holding a picture of my father so I'd know what he looked like when he came home from the war in the Pacific. My next memory after that was him driving up in a jeep, taking me to the local airport, strapping me into the front seat of a Navy trainer (i.e., Stearman biplane) and giving me my first plane ride. I couldn't see over the edge of the (open air) cockpit so thay stacked several parachute packs for me to sit on. Afterwords, mom was so pissed at him that he probably didn't get any for months. Some 50 years later, Dad and I set about seeing if we could fly ultralights. Dad went up, came right back, landed white as a sheet and said, "You really don't want to do this." It turned out he was right as I survived the contraption coming apart at altitude with only bruises. Mom's reaction and words were the same as before. She angrily said, "After all these years, you're still trying to kill that boy." Earliest memories were revisited and reinforced.
 
One of my earliest memories was when I was almost 9yrs old. My Aunt and her family were taking a trip to Italy. My Aunt and one of her daughters didn't want to take a plane so my Uncle and their son took a plane and my Aunt and her daughter went by ship. My Dad drove them to New York to board the ship and my Mom and me and my sister went to New York with them. We were allowed on the ship to look around. I remember looking over the railing and couldn't believe how long down the ship went and couldn't even imagine how much of the ship went under the water. I immediately had a fear of the water and how deep it must be. A year later the ship sunk. It was the SS Andrea Doria. I will never travel on a ship,
 

I have memories of when I was 4 or 5, but I'm not sure if they are real memories or "learned" memories, memories you think are your own but are really from being told a story many times. But one memory I know is my own is waking up from a terrible nightmare when I was 4. I used to line up all my dolls at the end of my bed every night when I went to sleep. I dreamt they all got up and started walking towards me menacingly. I woke up screaming!
 
When I was 4 or 5 & we were poor, I remember sitting on the floor in our run-down apartment sharing my lunch with several rats that lived in the building. They would sit in my lap & take food out of my hand. They never hurt me. I loved that apartment; it came with its own pets & I told my mom I wanted to live there forever. She always said, "You're crazy."
 
My earliest memory was of sitting on a hard wooden chair on a very rainy day and eating a sandwich as I watched a black and white cartoon about a tiger. All of my senses were engaged in forming that first memory, which is what I think anchored it in my mind...
 


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