my earliest memory blog | my earliest memory blog
Jul.29.2010
Memory is a tricky thing - mostly static, but with a little elastic around the edges. It can stretch and bend and change shape and texture over the years.
I've been neck deep in memory lately; most of my summer has been spent researching my family history. That research has helped me establish a...
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Jul.29.2010
The metal swing set stood in our North Carolina backyard, me on a shiny red swing, glossy, almost glassy red, the swing making swoops toward a plate of sky full of marshmallow clouds. I was five and in my mind they were marshmallows. Our French Poodle, Peppi, black as a wet...
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Jul.29.2010
My father is part of my earliest memory. He left when I was five and didn’t reappear until my mid-twenties. During his disappearance, he was busy fighting his personal demons: the effects of his stint as a Frogman in the Korean War, ensuing drug and alcohol addiction and manic depression. He died...
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Jul.29.2010
As a child, alone but never lonely, I formed at the base of trees small structures, their architecture fantastic as a dream, the framework of their mossy roots welcoming as home. I imagined myself the elf, inhabiting those ferny rooms, constantly creating further chambers, at peace. Enclosed...
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Jul.29.2010
Through silent dreams the heart taps on wood, beating like a metronome. Nowadays, the pace is about 80 beats per minute. I don't know if this is faster than average, but it bothers me not. Life still flows so slowly - and as far as I've come, the earliest memories are still paced slowly, a moment...
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Jul.29.2010
It was the very first day at school in my life. I was around 3 . It was so perfect. I love to paint, to play , to sing happy songs. All of a sudden I had friends, who wanted to be my friend.
It was so beautiful , and I felt so happy , that at my 52 years old, I remember the song we sang even though...
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Jul.29.2010
I don't recall what exactly was my earliest memory, but what I consider to be my earliest memory was a trip that I took when I was about three years old, perhaps even younger. It was a trip to Newport News, Virginia to visit my aunt (Geneva),my uncle (Bob), and my cousin (Bill). We took my...
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Jul.29.2010
We were in a 1936 Dodge, four door sedan. My mother, Phyllis McGowan was driving to town for groceries while trying to maintain her sanity and the integrity of the car’s interior despite the three sons who accompanied her. On the seat beside her lay Douglas, six months old and next to him...
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Jul.29.2010
I have distinct memories of lying in a crib...or a basinette and having people staring down at me. I found it slightly disconcerting. Of course, it may even just have been a dream but it seems I have always been aware of this event.
There is a slightly later memory I have of lying in a crib with...
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Jul.29.2010
I don't know why I'm taking so much time to describe a piece of cement.
It was a long walkway that was about eight to ten feet wide and more or less two feet thick. The cement had the appearance of being waxed to a kind of satiny shininess, and even in warm weather it stayed cool and...
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