My earliest childhood memory.
Once in a while a certain smell or sound will make me feel a sense of déjà vu, but I don't actually remember a lot of my childhood. And a lot of what I do remember could just be my mind playing tricks on me.
However, when thinking of my earliest childhood memory, I really think that I remember it correctly. People have told me about the situation itself, but I do believe I remember the event leading up to it.
I was two years old. I remember that I was sitting on a "bike trailer" that my dad had made. You know the wooden flat bed trailers that hook up to cars or trucks? Well, my dad made one to hook up to bikes. I was only two years old at the time, so I wasn't riding a bike, but Jeanie and Brian were 10 and 8 respectively.
This is what I looked like when I was two years old:
I don't remember who was on the bike when I was sitting on the trailer (if anyone). We weren't moving anywhere. We were just sitting in the driveway, and other kids (my cousins) were riding bikes up and down the street of our neighborhood.
My cousin, Kim, was babysitting me and my siblings.
I was sitting on the bike trailer eating a piece of cheese when one of my cousins (I remember who, but I don't want to say in case I remember this incorrectly) rode his bike up to the trailer and bumped his tire against the edge of the trailer.
This is where my memory stops, and the words that others have told me begin.
I started choking on a piece of cheese. Kim, who was babysitting, was actually in nursing school at the time. She ran to the neighbors to call an ambulance, but in the meantime, she worked on trying to dislodge the cheese that I was choking on.
I actually passed out because the cheese was lodged in my trachea for so long.
From what I was told, Kim managed to dislodge the cheese and I was (obviously) okay. I don't know how long I was unconscious. Like I said, all I remember was the moment right before it happened.
Kim went on to become an amazing OB nurse. She had three daughters, and I was very close to Kaitlin, her first. This photo below is of my (favorite) Aunt Mickey, Kim, me, and Kaitlin, shortly after Kaitlin was born.
Another memory I have from very early on was being at Kim's house and she gave me vanilla yogurt with blueberries, and I loved it. As you know, I despise yogurt, but that's the only time I can remember actually enjoying it. Just last week I was thinking about it, because Eli asked me to buy him some yogurt. I bought vanilla yogurt and a pint of blueberries.
I was very lucky while growing up--I didn't know death very well, because nobody close to me had ever died before. My grandma died from Alzheimer's when I was 17, but we weren't very close. Most of my memories of her are from when I was young--and even at that, I don't remember much. She lived in the house behind ours, and we used to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy there in the evenings.
Kim died very young (she was in her early 40's). She had cancer. When she was diagnosed, it never occurred to me that she might die. I know it sounds cliché, but Kim was truly one of the nicest people on the planet. I've yet to meet anyone as kind-hearted as she was.
Kissing my friend Lance at Kim's wedding:
After I had Noah and discovered that I wasn't able to breastfeed (I never produced any milk), Kim was a big comfort to me. She was an OB nurse and I talked to her about the problems I was having while trying to breastfeed. It wasn't too long after that that she was diagnosed with cancer.
I love that she was the one who saved me from choking. I choked for a long time, and if she hadn't intervened, I wouldn't be here today. It's such a crazy thought. I sometimes wonder if she ever thought of it in the years after it happened.
Interestingly, another very early memory I have (I had to have been only 3-4 years old at the time) is when my dad saw a mother in a panic on the side of the road because her son was choking. We were just driving by, but my dad saw her and stopped the car. When we pulled over, my dad ended up shaking the boy upside down (which was "normal" for helping young choking victims at the time). He dislodged the object (I think it was a hard candy) and we went on our way.
To this day, I have a huge fear of choking. Not just for myself, but for others around me. When Luke and Riley come over, I cut up their food so small that the minuscule pieces probably look ridiculous. And I am constantly reminding Noah and Eli to chew their food well.
Ironically, when Eli was a toddler, he choked on his food a LOT. I can't even tell you how often I had to do the heimlich maneuver on him. When we took him to a pediatric dentist, he said that Eli's molars weren't coming together, so he couldn't thoroughly chew his food.
Eli had to get braces at three years old to correct his bite so that he could chew his food properly.
Choking is scary stuff! It seems like nobody ever DIES from choking (I, personally, don't know anyone who has died from it), but there were over 5,000 people in the United States to die from choking in 2018. It's such a tragic death, if you think about it.
Anyway, the whole point of this post was my earliest childhood memory. Even though choking doesn't seem like a good memory, I don't feel badly about it. I remember having fun with my siblings and cousins that day, and I have the knowledge that my cousin, Kim, saved me. She's been gone for a long time, but I still think of her often.
It's kind of odd, the things we remember from when we were young. I just have a series of quick flashbacks. Nothing very long, but more like still photos when I think of my earliest memories.
If you have early childhood memories, no matter how random, please share! I find it so interesting.
