I snuggled down in the spare bed in the middle of the night, glad my brother hadn’t heard me climb in. But then he said, ‘Did you wet the bed?’
“No.’ I said. It was a really weak defence. There was no point following it with any excuses; I knew that he knew I was lying. I lay there, glad of the darkness and too embarrassed to sleep.
That’s one of my early memories. Today’s prompt in Clairey Hewitt‘s I’m Blogging Every Day in May! challenge is to recall your earliest memory.
I do remember how happy I was when I got this kitten for my 4th birthday (actually it’s more like a cat, isn’t it?). I called him Jimmy. As an aside, I also remember how warm those jarmies were when I’d put them on.
So if I was four in that photo and can remember the joy, can we just say that that other bed-wetting memory is my earliest memory, making me really young when it happened and therefore I needn’t have lay there so embarrassed?
Go Mum, too, getting me to hop in the spare bed rather than messing around changing sheets in the middle of the night. Now I feel a bit bad that I’ve changed the girls’ pyjamas in the middle of the night and just put a couple of towels over the wet patch before tucking them back in. Bad mother.
Can anyone recall a memory that they can claim is their earliest? I have only vague memories of my childhood. While I will forever use the standard claim that I had a wonderful and very happy childhood, any early memories I have mostly involve injury (and/or embarrassment obviously). Like the time my friend got her head caught between the springs on the trampoline.
Or my own injuries inflicted by unsuccessful attempts to keep up with three older brothers (hurdling the back gate, oh that was nasty – I can still hear my chin hitting the concrete, or taking a run-up across the lawn and then a giant leap to cross the entire length of the in-ground trampoline in just one bounce – for the record, I landed in a crumpled heap amongst the springs).
No wonder they raised trampolines, surrounded them in nets and covered the springs with protective mats.
What’s your earliest memory? Or better still, have you had a protective mat or net on your trampoline that lasted longer than 12 months?
Writing by Larissa Patton 
Sometimes my early memories aren’t my own memories at all but rather recalls from childhood photos that I think I remember but actually it’s only the photo. Certain things conjure up childhood memories – the smell of freshly mown lawn reminds me of late summer afternoons with my dad, the smell of the season’s first mandarins reminds me of my grandfather, the smell of Pinetarsils reminds me of an itchy bout of chickpox incurred whilst holidaying at the beach!! Wonder what our children’s memories will be – and isn’t it amazing what they remember already. Sometimes Tom will talk about something happening and I realize he was only 2 at the time!!
PS – Very cute photo and love how your are wearing blue pj’s in a household of 3 older brothers!!
Christine
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I’m sure that’s the case with photos. But true too that looking at a photo can help trigger memories, like how warm my blue jarmies were! Yes, a lady once said to my Mum, ‘How lovely, four boys!’ There was little pink in my wardrobe back then. Thanks for sharing your memories – I love freshly mown lawn too and the memories of backyard cricket it conjures.
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I remember those mats getting bloody soaking when were kids and getting a wet bum from them, I reckon the holes in the four corners were more dangerous than the springs?! Although we did used to love sitting on them waiting for ‘our turn!
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Oh didn’t they! Now that you say that I remember the water filming across all the squares!
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