Memories

What do you remember from your childhood that was important, unusual, or funny? Write about an early memory from the perspective of your childhood self. Be sure to use vivid images and descriptive detail. Are our strongest memories formed by happy or sad events? Why do you think this is so?

I think that it is up to the personality of the person; some are optimistic and remember happy times, other more down-to-earth people tend to recall negative events easier. I personally think our strongest memories are formed by events that bring sadness or a similarly negative emotion. Though happy events tend to suffice for quite a period of time, events that truly bring about a negative emotion will etch a mark on your heart and will bring about a greater change in you, whether good or bad. Many people try to push away bad memories and neglect their existence; however, the mere act of pushing them away indicates that we remember them. For me, negative events tend to form a dark cloud over the positive events, and though I continually push them out of my mind, the lessons or ideas that these events have taught me affect me in ways greater than positive influences. Though we tend to focus on the good things in life, we can recall the negative emotions easier.

I personally don't think negative events are supposed to be brooded over. Whoever does that is emotional, narrow minded, and simply stupid. Negative events, I believe, are God's methods of teaching us lessons - to point out morals, ideals, changes that need to be made to oneself, or simply to remind us that life is not easy

For some reason the events in my childhood were relatively happy, while the more recent years have been bordering on the negative. I remember the time (must've been only three-and-a-half at the time or four) when my mother was going to give birth to my sister. I spent the night at a friend of the family's house, where their kid Jake was my "best friend" (that is, he pushed me around and used simple means of coercion to bend my choices and my personality to suit his pleasure). Anyways, I bawled my eyes out at that first sleepover. I have always hated change, even at that age. When something at their house was different from mine (e.g. the sleeping bad I slept on was different or something related) I would start bawling. Then I started bawling when I realized I couldn't see my parents. Needless to say, I was a pretty hard to handle kid at that age. I even woke up in the middle of the night and, remembering the state of affairs I was in, I gave a single sob before falling back asleep.
My father picked me up in the morning, to the delight of Jake's parents, to go home. I was more than happy to comply.
The next day was sunny, but the weather was nice and cool. We walked to the hospital (Galveston has only one hospital, and it was close enough to home to walk) to see my mother. This was the first recorded time of me going to a hospital and learning what a "C-session" was. I saw my sister for the first time as well, in the nursery alongside other bawling and sleeping babies. I remember looking at her with a sense of wonder that I can hardly describe in words and can't fully recall either, but I know that it was too much for a 4 year old to comprehend and I shook it off quickly. Interesting memory. I can't believe I just remembered that.