The Earliest Memories Tag

Thanks for tagging me with this, Blessing Counter!  I had a ton of fun putting some of my early memories into words, and finding some old snapshots to go along with them.

1. What is your earliest memory? 

I have a few tiny snippets of memory from when I was around the age of 3.  I remember little bits of our house in Iowa -- my bedroom had orange carpet, my parents' bedroom had pale blue carpet and a matching bedspread and curtains, and one of the bathrooms had a green caddy for the toilet brush.

(Me around age 2, wearing my dad's cowboy boots.)

2. What is your earliest memory of a birthday? 

I think it's from my third birthday -- my mom's friend Jean decorated a cake for me with M&Ms as balloons on it, and I wanted to pick off the M&Ms and eat them, but my mom wouldn't let me.

(Said birthday cake)

3. What is your earliest memory of a food? 

Beside the cake above, I remember eating fried chicken at a restaurant with my grandparents when I was probably 5 or 6, and being worried that they wouldn't bring me drumsticks because those were the only chicken piece I knew how to eat.

4. What is your earliest memory of a gathering? 

I have a teensy memory of being in Sunday school when I was, again, about 3 -- singing a song called "Who's That Knocking At My Door" with my teacher and classmates while we took turns being the person to knock on a door and introduce ourselves.

5. What is your earliest memory of family? 

I can remember playing with my dad when I was only 2 or 3 -- he would get down on his hands and knees and be my horse, and I would ride on his back all around our house in Iowa.

(Can't find a picture of that, so here's us finger-painting together instead.)

6. What is your favorite memory? 

I don't know if I have one favorite memory, of my childhood or otherwise.  I have many, many memories I treasure.  Playing that I was an explorer in our backyard in Michigan, where I would make a circle of rocks to be my campfire.  Playing that I was a train robber and climbing on top of our swing set, which was the train.  Getting to choose our dog, Lucas, from a litter of puppies when I was 11.  Lying under our neighbors' lilacs and reading books in the spring.  Meeting my first real best friend when I was 10, along the shore at Lake Huron.

(One of my little campfires -- I'm about 4 here.
The longer stick is my rifle, and the white disc is a
Frisbee I used as my cooking pot.)

7. What is your earliest memory of a gift? 

I remember getting my first Barbie and an Etch-a-Sketch and some coloring books when I was in the hospital when I was not quite 4.  I had a virus of some sort, with a super-high fever that refused to break for days, and was in the hospital for 10 whole days -- wow, that must have been so scary for my parents.  I can remember I had this IV stand that was blue that we called my "little blue buddy" and I had to take it with me when I walked around -- my dad would come to visit every day (I'm assuming my mom stayed with me -- I was an only child then) and once I was able, he'd take me on a walk down the hospital hallway to the vending machine and buy me an Almond Joy or a Mounds :-9

(With that first Barbie, in the hospital.)

8. What is your earliest memory of an embarrassment? 

When I was probably 6 or 7, a pastor acquaintance of my dad's came over for some reason.  I said hi to him and called him by his first name, because that's what I heard my parents call him.  He bent down and looked me in the eye and scolded me severely for addressing an adult by their first name.  I went and hid under the dining room table and wouldn't come out until he was gone.

9. What is your earliest memory of when you were scared? 

I remember having a really scary dream when I was 7.  I dreamed there was a white ghost woman floating slowly toward me over the ground by my grandparents' barn, and woke up shrieking and crying.  My mom came in the room to comfort me, and told me it was probably because it was our first night back at home after having been gone for a month.

(Random picture of my mom building my new dollhouse I got
for Christmas when I was 2.  I still have that dollhouse!!!
My kids play with it now -- it's held up well.)

10. What is your earliest memory of a camp? 

Of going camping?  I went on my first camping trip when I was probably 13.  I loved being able to tramp around in the woods all over the place, eat food cooked over a fire, and generally pretend I was a cowboy or a backwoodsman.

11. How young were you when you received Christ? (optional)

I was baptized on Mother's Day, about 3 weeks after I was born.

I just tagged a bunch of people the other day, so I'm not going to tag anyone this time around.  But if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged by me!