Memory

Eleanor grows daily -- every moment she learns and develops new skills. This is no surprise, at a young age humans are often compared to sponges, soaking in everything around them. I imagine that soon she will begin forming permanent memories, which lead me to think about my own earliest recollections. I was trying to think of my very first memory, one remembered from my own mind and not from a picture I may have seen. I think it must have been at nursery school. I remember playing at the side of the church where our nursery school was housed, on a grassy hill surrounded by bushes that seemed quite large at the time. The bushes, evergreens of some sort, had little red berries with holes on one side, which I am fairly certain were poisonous. My classmates and I would also play Wonder Woman, ride big wheels around the blacktop, and play in the snow. I remember indoors we hammered bottle caps on pieces of wood with real hammers and nails -- would this even be allowed in a nursery school now?! It certainly was fun though.

Thinking about these things for myself made me wonder what Nana, now into her nineties, would remember about the early years of her life. I asked her the other day, and I think I must have caught her off guard with such an unusual question. She told me that she remembered the birth of her youngest brother, I imagine the birth was quite different now than it would have been back then. This also made me think that I should ask the rest of you (family, and friends too if you like) what your earliest or most vivid memories are. If you feel like you want to share you can post a comment at the end of this. I can put them together in a future post and keep them for our future generations.


And, speaking of future generations, I went to an open house on Sunday for a nursery school for Eleanor. Can she really be at an age where I need to be putting in applications to preschools? I guess so. I think this place would be a perfect match for our girl -- and frankly it reminded me of my own nursery school. It is convenient, the parents and teachers were extremely nice and it seems that they have a caring, laid back atmosphere with outdoor time every day. So, next year my little baby may be making her way up the hill to her first school!