Photo by Laura Fuhrman
I think about memory a lot. I work with neurologists and I write about science a lot for my day job. Did you know memory is very malleable thing? Studies show that just the act of recalling a memory can change the memory. The original memory can become associated with whatever you were thinking or experiencing or feeling at the time you recalled it.
So, my earliest memory, as far as I can tell is from when I was about three years old. I remember rolling down the stairs at my aunt’s house in Corpus Christi. I was rolling sideways, thumping down stair at a time.
It was a fun, silly thing. A happy memory.
In another very early memory, I can remember my grandfather, my mother’s father. I was maybe two or three. I was messing with the buttons on his shirt and he smacked my hand. It was very soft, just a gentle chastisement to get me to leave it alone. It’s my only memory of him.
I have a young daughter. She’s three now. I often wonder what her first real memory will be. It might have already happened. It might be about to happen. When we have a really fun day together, I wonder, “Will this be her earliest memory?”
When I get frustrated and shout or I have to scold her or put her timeout or take something sharp away and she cries, I wonder, “Will this be her earliest memory?”
It’s something I can’t really control. All I can do is try to make the happy memories outnumber the not-so-happy memories and hope the good ones stick.
