My First Memory
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It is my first memory. Or at least one of my first. I am sitting in the kitchen. On Dad’s lap at the head of the long, wood table. I have a yellow book flipped open in front of me. Dr. Suess’s My Book About Me.
I am three or four. I don’t think I know how to read yet. So Dad reads me the questions. Questions about me. And he helps me fill in the answers.
How many stairs do you have in your home?
Some questions require that I hop up and investigate. I remember running to the stairs, walking up slowly, counting each one. I remember recording the number of stairs in the little blank space.
I remember being very happy. Feeling safe. Feeling surrounded by family at home. Feeling powerful and purposeful, recording tidbits about me. Me.
The details are hazy. They are. But the memory is there. Here. In my mind and in my heart. And this memory in particular? It makes me smile. Because there I was, a tiny thing, Toddler’s age, sitting with Dad, embarking on something I love. Beginning to tell my story.
So much has changed. Here I am almost three decades later. In my own home with my own dining table and my own family. Here I am, ensconced in memory and longing, writing my own words. Continuing what I started so many years ago. My story about me.
And now. Now, I will sign off. And I will do it. I will buy three more of those glorious yellow books. For the two (and soon-to-be three) little girls in my world. And I can’t wait. Until they sit there with me or with Daddy, flipping through the questions, asking, answering, counting, creating.
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What is your first memory?
I can never never what’s a memory and what’s something I “remember” from photos. We went to Spain for the summer when I was 4, I have a lot of memories from this time. It’s amazing that the memory of the Dr Seuss book and your dad is so strong. I wonder why we remember certain things so clearly.
Wow, I love this post. It comes full circle for you as a little girl to now having your own little girls , to creating a cherished memory that you shared with your dad. I think this is great, what a lovely first memory.
Great post. I love how you are going to get the book for your little girls and recreate the memory for them. I love that my parents gave me books as presents and my mom and dad would take turns reading to me. One of my best childhood memories.
My sister’s birth. I was two. My memory is spotty and incomplete, but I know it is mine. Sometime in high school I asked my dad about it, he confirmed things he’d long since forgotten, and corrected a couple of toddlerized misunderstandings.
I’ve always loves that this was my first memory. I actually wrote a post about it last spring during Momalom’s Five for Ten.
My mom reading to me, I think it was Goodnight Moon… most of my early memories involve books and time together with my mom (she was a stay-at-home mom). I think honestly this is one of the reasons I love the written word so much, both in reading and in writing.
Those books are fabulous!
My first strong memory is from preschool — waiting in my cubbie for my mom to pick me up. She was usually the first in line since she was always 20 minutes early wherever she went. That day she was not first, and I thought the world would end. She was third.
Lovely post~
This is soothing and wonderful and healing. Thank you a million times over. You will never, ever know what your blog means to me.
My first memories have carved out a spot in my heart that I have since filled with wonderul things.
Reading yours here as well as others makes me wonder and hope about my children and their first memories.
how apropos! Today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday. He would have been 107.
I just saw that it is his birthday! I had no idea. So bizarre. Makes me wonder if this is a sign or something… Maybe the littlest Rowley girl will share a birthday with the Suess man himself?
I wondered if you knew it was his b-day! My daughter’s school had a party today in his honor, which included dressing in pajamas and eating green (spinach) eggs.
What a wonderful first memory, and it’s so special that it is tied to something concrete–a book–that you can pass along to your little ones.
what a great idea, to do the same book with your girls.
my first memory is of my oldest brother’s birth. i remember very little, but can still feel how special it felt to be at home with my dad alone while my mom and brother were still in the hospital. i remember feeling like i never knew what was going to happen next but certain it would be fun because my dad was at the helm.
My 7-year-old is filling out this very same book now (and she loves it)… I’ll need to get a couple more for her sisters since my 5-year-old is already jealous!
One of my first memories was watching my parents bring home by little brother, placing him on their big bed and me sitting by his head… I was 3.
Good luck with your upcoming “journey” – may it be quick and as painless as possible!
One of my first memories is reading Harold and the Purple Crayon with my dad. It’s the book he used to teach me to read. I think it sticks out in my mind so vividly because he worked nights and we (my sisters and I) didn’t get to see him as often as he or we would have liked.
What a beautiful memory! Have fun creating more… But this time where you are the parent. I am just starting creating the memories of being a Grandma!
I never had that book as a child–actually had never heard of it or seen it until a few years ago when my partner’s mother gave him his copy from when he was a wee one. I felt so sad that I never had this book!! So for Christmas that year, my patner’s family gave me a copy. Love that as adults we can reclaim childhoods we may have never had. xoxo
One of my son’s homework assignment this week is to read Dr. Seuss on his birthday which is today. Son has plenty to choose from but not this so thanks for inspiring me to pick it up for him.
I love that you’re passing this tradition down to your own three girls.
Sadly I have a horrible memory. I do remember putting toast in the toaster and asking my mom when I would start school, so I must have been 4.
I tend to document a lot about my children because if they have a memory like mine they will remember nothing.
But I do remember the feeling of home. I always felt safe and loved.
Dr Suess,how I loved these books as a young child, my mum tells me my head was always in a book. Dr Suess took me to a world of my own of which I loved. Nowadays when I see children reading Dr Seuss especially my grade 5′s at school, I am immmediately transported back and that special feeling engulfs me every time, like magic!
Great post on a very special day.
I love Dr. Seuss and love even more that you wrote this post not knowing it was his birthday. As I read his books to my own daughter, I notice his wisdom.
Did you know that Dr. Seuss was a political cartoonist?
Oh I know this! I was three. My parents just bought their first house out in the country. My mom drove my sister and me out to see if for the first time. She opens the side door into the kitchen and I remember very clearly thinking, “Boy this is YELLOW!” No question, that is definitely my very first memory. It also shocks me to think that at age 3 I was 1.) considerate enough to not actually speak that for fear of hurting my mom’s feelings and 2.) that I could be so harsh in my thinking.