My First Memories

I was listening to Craig Mod’s Things Become Other Things podcast from the book tour. In the Beacon NY episode, Sam Anderson (who Craig was in conversation with), recalled the question that he’d asked during a Jeffersonian dinner on one of Craig and Kevin’s (Kelly) Walk & Talks.

So the question was my favorite conversation starter, which is very simple: what is your very first memory in your entire life?

I tried to recall my first memory (single) but I can never pick it out of the memories (plural) that all seem to clump together at that time—the very first time I remember being a living human in the world. Instead, I’ll have to write several and just hope that one of them is the first.

• I had a stuffed bear called Red Ted (yes he was red—I was very imaginative). One Christmas, sitting on the rug in the living room of our Maple Avenue house, I painted his paws with nail varnish.
• I remember my father having lots of DIY equipment, but my favorite was the large spirit level. My sisters and I thought it would be funny to turn it into a see-saw. My father thought it was less funny.
• My sister’s Teddy Ruxpin had a scarf that I was jealous of, so I took it off and tied it around my neck. It turned out that whilst my neck was small, his was smaller. Panic ensued. Fine in the end.
• We’d play in the front yard in the summer, and the best moments that I remember include the Pop Man arriving on our street on warm days. Limeade, dandelion and burdock, lemonade. Bliss.
• I remember so clearly the joy of Boxing Day. Bounding down the stairs to eat Christmas Day leftovers (mostly cake and mince pies to be honest) was so exciting to me. Sugar for breakfast!
• My first day of nursery at Gorse Hill. I hated the idea of being separated from my parents so much that I was trying to wriggle out of their grasp and run for it. Didn’t work. Was fine, actually.
• My bed looked like a race car, but at some point it broke. My father turned the wooden wheels into little tables for me and my sisters that we could eat at. I had a front wheel (smaller), I think.