FanStory.com - My First Memoryby gansach

Most Baby Boomer kids don't start remembering events until they begin school~before that nothing much happens to be remembered. All that learning~to walk, to talk, to go potty in the toilet~all that important stuff; our brains are overwhelmed storing all that learning and can't deal with memories on top of it. Once we're proficient at all we need to do without thinking about it~the basics of living~we get to start school, begin our journey in the outside world. Meeting new people, places, friends~learning to read, write, add, subtract, etc. That is when the memorable events start to make impressions in our minds.

But I actually have some memories from before I turned five. Both of the very clear ones are from the same event~a summer resort vacation.

We went to a place called Deer Trail Lodge in northern Wisconsin. We had a room in the lodge. My parents were going out for the evening because they hired a sitter, probably a lodge employee, to mind me while they were gone. I remember they told me that she was coming to take care of me and, typically, I was shy and didn't want to meet her. I remember hiding behind an armchair and standing lamp near the window, not wanting to come out. My dad finally got hold of me, and the young lady tried to make friends. Everything must have turned out okay because I don't remember anything after that, just the trauma of my parents leaving me with a stranger for the first time.

The next clear memory came also from while we were at the lodge. We were on the beach and swimming. I was paddling in the water. I was either just about to turn two or just had done, so the water can't have been too deep. My dad was standing next to me.

One of the guests my parents had befriended came paddling by in a canoe and stopped to chat to my dad. As they were talking, I tried to follow him as he walked in a bit deeper toward the canoe. I lost my footing and went underwater. I can't have been under too long, but I have a very clear vision of looking up through the water to see the bottom of the boat. Then someone is grabbing me by the back of my swimsuit and hauling me straight up out of the water~I don't know if it was my dad or the man in the canoe. But I know I started crying because not being able to breathe scared me so much.

My dad held me close. I swallowed some water while trying to breathe. The man in the boat asked if I was okay. No one seemed too concerned so I know it wasn't serious and must have happened all in a couple minutes, but it seemed like forever to me. It was scary enough to have imprinted very clearly in my memory so I've never forgotten it~even after 70 years.