My Earliest Memory

For all of my adult life, when asked about my earliest memory, I have described it as involving a very hot day, walking across a parking lot to a bank or maybe post office, with my father and grandparents.  I have thought I must have been three years old or so.  The things I remember most clearly was being very hot, wearing a very scratchy pinafore, and following my father on his way to the building (whatever it was).

Since I decided to write this memory up for posterity, I went looking for a photograph of the dress.  That was the year that my older sister and I both had dressy organza pinafores that had a plain dress to be worn underneath.  We both wore just the pinafore when the weather was too hot – it was cooler than wearing both – if we were being dressed up.  Mine, however, was particularly scratchy whether due to the style or to the difference in materials.

When I found the picture I noticed it had a clue on the back that helped me figure out how old I likely was when it was taken.  There are two or three snapshots, taken at the same time, of my sister and me standing on porch of our house.  I originally thought it was likely (from look of the the porch) that it was taken in Lebanon, Indiana, the first time the family lived there (between sometime in 1950 and March 1951).  The writing on the back of one, though, gives the date June 1951 in my grandmother’s handwriting.  I am fairly certain that our family, which by then included four children, had moved to Decatur, Illinois in around March 1951 when my middle brother was less than 5 months old.  He was born in Lebanon in November.    Our last brother was born in Decatur more than a year later.

So now I know.  At least in terms of that dress and therefore that memory, I was likely just about 4 years old.  What’s your earliest memory?