Strong and colorful images, the best day ever, traumas, physical sensations.
People have no say about which bizarre thing from around age 4 worms its way into forever-ness.
But kids that age are totally all over the place and usually pretty dumb, so strap in.
I can remember a vivid day when my babysitter took me to the park to those long-necked ducks.
She gave me the whole loaf and I didn't have the tools of self-preservation to drop the thing and run.
To this day I shutter around ostriches. Zoos are a problem.
Redditor En-tre-pre-neur had some thoughts.
So they asked:
"Redditors, what is your earliest memory?"
Flipper
Happy Brain GIFGiphy"Walking up to a stranger on a ferry that was wearing the same (very obscure) jumper as my dad, hugging him and loudly proclaiming "daddy I saw a dolphin!'"
trustmeimweird
Flocks
"My parents took my to the park. Now, my mum is terrified of birds, including ducks. As in, she will scream if they come near her. I remember suddenly a flock of ducks, swans, geese, all of those water birds, suddenly coming towards us. My mum? She let go of my hand and ran off screaming. My dad? Went after my mum. Me? Well, I became duck food."
holipops
Just Sleep
"Being told to go for a nap (I was around 2-3 at the time), and I refused because I wanted to keep playing & was being defiant. My Dad repeatedly put me in my bed and said that I'll feel better if I lied down for a bit. I fell asleep and he woke me up 2 hours later. And shocker, I felt better. Lol."
zariaah
Daddy Help!
"When I was little, my dad used to trim the elderly neighbors trees whenever they needed. One day I was there, just sitting on the garden of this old lady while my dad was up in the tree cutting some limbs and the old lady's husband was holding his ladder. Both of them were wearing very similar plaid lumberjack-ish shirts and baseball caps. Then another neighbor's dog, a black and white pit bull of which I was always terrified, came running out of their house and in my direction."
"I ran to the old guy certain that he was my dad, legit screaming 'Daddy, daddy, protect me!' He handled it very well, got me up from the ground and shooed the dog away. When I said thank you, I noticed my mistake and this is the very first instance of morbid shame I remember."
LeftSeater777
She didn't care...
"Can't remember the age this happened, but I remember feeling really sick for some unspecific reason. I told my mom and she went out to grab medicine for me at the local pharmacy. I really can't remember what symptoms I was feeling or what she intended to grab to help me."
"While she was out, I started feeling much better and felt bad that I made her go out and get medicine. I remember waiting for what felt like an eternity, sitting at the bottom of our stairs by our front door waiting for her to get home. When she got home I apologized because I told her I felt okay again and felt bad she ran out just to get something to help me."
"She didn't care. She was just happy that I didn't feel sick anymore."
NeutyBooty
She Bounced
Falls Down Dean Winters GIF by MayhemGiphy"My sister headdiving down the stairs when I was 2. Watched her from the bottom. She was fine, though."
Interferonno2fan
Nipped
"I was 3 years old and playing with a toy cow in the living room of my old house. My grandma’s poodle was there and I have no idea why, but I remember putting the cow down and sticking my pinky in the dog’s mouth. He lightly nipped me and I remember feeling how pointy his teeth were. I wasn’t hurt, just startled enough to learn not to do dumb crap like that again."
sherrykathryn
out of body experience...
"I would have between between 2-3 years old."
"I had always remembered it as an out of body experience. I was at my grandma's house walking around the pool alone (I know, it didn't take long for mum to find out and ban unsupervised visits with grandma) and I fell in, I remember it as if I was reaching in and saving myself from drowning somehow. It's really hard to explain."
"I told mum about this in the last few years and it turns out I was actually saving my brother from drowning, but it had also happened to me and she thinks I must have merged the memories somehow."
OlympicSpider
Drive
"This is kinda depressing, but my first clear memory is of my dad beating my mom until she fell on the kitchen floor. Then she got up and told me to get my doll and we got in the car and drove away from him. I was 3 at the most."
Molly_dog88888888
"As messed up as it is to say, I'm glad that I'm not the only one with an early memory of their dad beating their mom. Makes me feel like I wasn't as alone as I felt"
methylenebluestains
Calm Down
"When I was little I guess I got pink eye. My mother was trying to get me to calm down to have eye drops but I think I took it as a game for her to chase me."
"The only thing I really remember is my mother grabbing me and slam-dunking me onto the carpet; she held me down with her forearm and forced some eye drops in my eye while I just was still laughing and screaming."
"I would like to believe that my mom RKO’d so hard I gained consciousness."
ImReallyDrowsy
Get Out
new kids on the block dancing GIF by Jacob ShwirtzGiphy"I was in my crib and my brother was talking to me, but I couldn’t speak well enough to understand him. I remember being mad because he could climb in and out of the crib and I couldn’t."
Sethrial
My Bestie
"My 1-year-younger-than-me cousin was watching me eat a lollipop and got so confused when it was inside my mouth. She kept asking where it went! Then I took it out and showed her. Then I put it back in my mouth and she asked me again where it went. I was 3. She still my best friend 39 years later."
omgwhatisleft
The Drop
"My mom was spoon-feeding my infant brother and she dropped the spoon in a bowl of soup. I thought it was gone forever in an infinite ocean of soup, and I was amazed when she got it back out. I think that was me learning object permanence."
cointelpro_shill
On the Wall
"Siiiigh... alright one of my best friends tells this story to anyone that will listen, but my earliest memory Is of sitting on the bathroom floor while my mom was changing her tampon. My dad came in and yelled 'What are you doing?!' And she said, 'He’s not going to remember.' **earliest clear memory.** I think the earliest was of a drawing of a goat on a wall."
poonpeenpoon
All In
"I remember my grandfather letting me sit on his lap while he played poker with a bunch of other grandpas - and they let me eat all of the cookies I wanted. They smoked cigars and made faces at me. I remember thinking it was hilarious. All of my earliest memories are of him. He was always happy to see me and would pick me up and laugh. He died when I was 4."
dainty_flower
SMILE
"Sitting in one of those chairs where they feed you. I remember just being happy, and pure. My mom was feeding me, and my dad was sitting on a couch across me. I remember them smiling, and I remember being filled with love, no actual thoughts, just pure love for my parents. I think about that once in a while."
that-bass-guy
Trailer Houses
"Mine is so embarrassing! I remember running down the hall to the bathroom because I had wet my moms bed. I can distinctly see the hallway and the light was on at the end of the hall in the bathroom.We only lived there between me being 3 to 4 so it was sometime around that age."
"Then my next one is sneaking out of my uncle's house (where we were staying temporarily after leaving the place mentioned above) sneaking into my grandparent's house and trying to turn the tv on in the living room. The houses were like 20 feet apart, two trailer houses."
_fly-on-the-wall_
Out of Focus
"I was 2 years old and having kidney surgery, and I woke up half way through my surgery because the epidural came out of my spine (they had snapped the needle in my spine on the first go, which was great). I remember seeing them working on me, freaking out (as you do), and I managed to rip the line out of my hand which was pissing out with blood."
"I remember the excruciating pain that came with all of it as the epidural wore off. I remember pretty much my entire hospital stay, and damn near everything since then."
StaceyLades
A good friend is not always the one with whom you share laughs and fun experiences.
The friendships you want to keep include those who won't abandon you in a time of need or someone who supports you in a variety of complicated situations where not even a family member can be relied upon.
Unfortunately, many of us have experienced a time when a person's true colors revealed to us that the so-called "friend" we've always trusted wasn't one at all.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor Aesthetik_1 asked:
"What made you instantly realize This 'friend' is not a real friend?"
These Redditors didn't realized at the time that they were being used.
Recurring Favor
"When he only called me when he needed something. It didn't hit me until much later."
– Queasy-Location-9303
"I have one of those 'friends'. She always gushes about how we're friends but she never initiates contact unless she wants me to do something for her."
– StiffAssedBrit
The Errand Girl
"Several years back, I had a friend who introduced me to this new boy she was seeing. Maybe a year later, their relationship blew up in a fury of bs (whole other story), but by the time they split, I was equally friends with both of them. He and I were both photographers at the time, so the friendship was instantaneous."
"One day we started talking about her, neither positively nor in poor taste, just kind of in general."
"He then asked me 'when she texts to hang out, what does she usually want to do?'"
"I paused. I thought. Holy sh*t, she'd either be asking for a favour or for help with some kind of errand. I was her f'king errand girl."
"She texted me a month or two later, just a 'hey'. I never responded. She never texted again."
"I'm still friends with her ex, though. That dude is genuine as heck."
– ChamomileBrownies
Testing The Friendship
"When you decide to let them be the one to reach out. And you never hear from them again."
– plzdontgetmad
"Yup. Made plans with a friend three times, she cancelled each time. I finally told her to let me know when she was free, we haven’t hung out since."
"She was a good friend for the season, but not a lifetime."
– NoMrBond3
People were shocked to discover the moment they realized they didn't really know who their "friend" was anymore.
The Chaperon
"I had been giving rides to a girl I thought was my friend. To and from school in high school. She wasn’t really suppose to ride with other teens but due to her mothers work hours we could easily pull this off. I thought we were close."
"One day while on the way home my brakes went out. We were about 2 blocks from her gated neighborhood. I managed to roll in safely and parked at her house to call a tow truck."
"She flipped. Told me I couldn’t stay. She knew my brakes were not working as she had also been terrified when we couldn’t stop. She said she wanted to go to a movie that weekend with other friends and her mom would ground her if she saw me at the house. I offered to lie and say I only stopped there as my car malfunctioned on my way home. I had to pass her neighborhood on my way home anyways."
"She refused. Started to scream at me. She didn’t care what happened I had to go. Started to call the guard at the front gate to tell them I had broken in and was threatening her."
"I left her and that friendship that moment. I managed to roll my car slowly to a mechanic not too far away but never forgot the shi* feeling of knowing I could have been seriously hurt and she wouldn’t have cared. She wanted to see a movie. She had the nerve to sheepishly call and ask me a couple days later if I could give her a ride to school. Told her I was too busy and no longer had time… after all I wanted to help her obey her mom's rules. She rode the bus til she graduated."
– Duffarum
Unwilling Companion
"I had this friend in school. Each year there was a funfair in our city, all students received vouchers for a drink and something to eat. This friend complained the whole day that she had no one to accompany her to the funfair. So, stupid me offered to go with her."
"Once we arrived we met another friend of hers. And another, and another... until we were a group of 5 or 6 people. I didn't know anyone and was basically just walking behind them. This friend took me aside and said, 'My friends think you are annoying, and we would like you to leave.'"
"It was a pleasure to see that she failed her exams a year later."
– Auldale
There's the spirit of competition, but when it's taken seriously, we're no longer game for these friendships.
I Can Do It Better
"Constantly 'one ups' me. A real friend is happy for you."
– Complex-Half8338
"That one time I got a fake bag but she doesn’t know and then 2 weeks later messaged me that she also bought a luxury bag… Then when I got a bf, she also went to get a bf within 3 months which is TOTALLY fine but she constantly messages me for us to go on a double date. Anyways, sadly they didn’t last long :( I mentioned that I wanted to go to Cuba, she went ahead and bought herself a ticket to Cuba but I didn’t end up going lol"
– Hot-Coffee-8465
Never Steal The Spotlight
"When they loved the idea of me shining, but behind their shadow, I could never do or achieve anything above them, and when I did, they would get jealous."
– Jasssin23
"Yes! I recently ghosted a friend because of this kind of behavior. She was trying to compete about EVERYTHING. Like she bragged about how her mom’s car accident was more traumatic than my elderly MIL’s - which is not even an appropriate thing to compare. She would also try to 'outshine' celebrations of my milestones and was mean to several of my friends for no apparent reason. She was a loose cannon at best."
– thefifthtrilogy
All About Me
"ALL she talks about it herself and her problems. Granted she has a a lot but never asks about me or my life until she realizes she just bypassed my attempt to want to talk about something in my life bothering me and continued to talk about herself."
– PokemomOnTheGo
People can just be so rude.
"When I got really sick. Very few came to help."
– Tofflus1
"Same here. I got cancer and everyone I knew was over the top supportive for the first six months and then all but three of my friends just vanished. I saw one of them at a Halloween party while I was going through chemo and she told me that my bald head made people uncomfortable. I was dressed as Captain Picard, it was awesome and she ruined it."
– CatGoNoTail
Not Missing High School
"At lunch, she was sitting with her boyfriend, I was sitting with our friend circle. She came up to me, guilted me into sitting with her and her boyfriend, and then proceeded to ignore me for the rest of lunch."
"She didn't care about me, she just didn't want me talking to the friend circle that she had abandoned for her boyfriend. When I pointed this out to her, she called me a jealous b*tch."
"Ah, high school. How I don't miss thee."
– Symnestra
These examples actually served as a good reminder for me to take a moment and assess my friendships.
Not so much about how I've been treated but more about checking myself to see if I'm respecting the people I call my friends.
We've all been guilty of casually mentioning future plans to get together. I embarrassingly wait for people to initiate something, which is terrible.
Show up for your friends. Make them feel important like the individuals they are.
There are few moments in life more momentous than buying your first home.
Of course, as is the case with any big decision, after going through with it, your mind begins to spiral down into a series of doubts.
Most of the time, once you've moved in and lived there for a while, all these doubts begin to slowly disappear.
In some cases, though, those doubts quickly turn into regrets.
Particularly when you notice more and more elements of what you thought was your "dream" home that is more reminiscent of a nightmare.
Redditor californiabred was curious to hear the biggest regrets from people who recently purchased a home, leading them to ask:
"Homeowners who bought recently, what’s your biggest regret?"
Not The What, But The When
"Not buying 4 years ago."- 3rdPartyArbitor
Location, Location, Location!
"The situation when you bought a house where it was possible and a month later they sell a house in the area where you wanted"- BenefitOk3952
"Not knowing enough about the area/town."
"I hate where we live."
"Hoping we can move by the time my oldest starts kindergarten."- MP1087
jason patric fox GIF by Wayward PinesGiphyUpon Closer Inspection...
"The inspector told us the main drain in the basement was clogged."
"We thought it was clogged with something normal."
"It was, in fact, 'clogged' with cement from when our basement floor was redone."
"So now our basement regularly gets standing water on one side."- doctorpotterhead
"Hiring the wrong home inspector they missed so much, I really have to wonder if all those reviews were bought and paid for."- CaptainQuoth
Landscaping Decisions
"Not planting the fruit trees sooner."
"It’s a long wait."- SageLeaf1
Plant Hope GIF by The Seed of Life FoundationGiphyHow Long Have You Got...
"Be shameless enough to perform your own base level of inspection of a house so you don’t have to rely on what an inspector finds or get in a situation where you have to make an offer regardless of what the inspection finds."
"Turn all the faucets on and run the dishwasher."
"Start the washer machine for a second."
"Figure out if there is any water pressure issue."
"Bring a multi line laser and a tape measure."
"Check for any significant changes in slope on the foundation for some settling issues."
"Pay attention to the downspouts."
"Do they terminate right at the house or do they have longer pipes that lead the water away?"
"Pay attention to the flooring and create a rough estimate of what it will cost to immediately replace the flooring."
"Way easier to do when you don’t have a house full of furniture and can do it right before you move in."
"On the financial side you need to talk with multiple lenders at all times and make sure they continue to give you the most up to date closing costs."
"There were a lot of sneaky numbers that made there way in that I was unaware of as a first time home buyer."
"Until that mortgage lender gives you the locked in rate don’t trust them as to what number they are currently telling you."
"Discover your maximum mortgage rate + escrow and work backwards as to the maximum house you can afford."
"Don’t buy based on the pipe dream of refinancing."- from_the_Luft
GIF by BlindspotGiphyProcrastination...
"Not recent, but I still regret not refinishing the floors before I moved in."
"I'll never do it now."- WinterFilmAwards
"I regret not having the inside painted and the carpet replaced before we moved in."
"Been here two years and it never felt like 'my home' until I got rid of the stains of those who came before."- DaisyRage7
Consider A Test Drive...
"Not particularly recent, but we did not pull out cars in the driveway or attempt to park them."
"So we didn't realize that my car could only enter the driveway from one direction, so I had to turn around half a block up every time I needed to park."
"And we just BARELY got two cars in the driveway."
"So my regret is that I took for granted that the driveway met our needs."- gtizzz
homer simpson episode 24 GIFGiphyAlways Read The Fine Print
"I bought a few years ago."
"So many things have gone sideways."
"One thing I regret is not being educated about permits."
"Contractors/handymen/ anyone who works on your house really, never mentions a permit may be needed."
"Learned that it’s up to me and me alone to do the research and phone calls."
"Currently have a job on hold because they needed a permit."
"The company blamed me and now I’m not sure they’re even going to do the work."
"Watch the movie 'The Money Pit'."
"It’s not that far off."
"Some days I wish I’d just be a renter."- MissPeppingtosh
Simply Not Worth The Effort
"Don't bother childproofing your home."
"They still get in."- Blueblackzinc
season 9 friends GIFGiphyIt's easy to question whether or not buying a home was the right decision.
But rather than live a life full of regret, why not make the most out of what you have, and turn your not-quite-dream home into a temporary dream home?
Who knows, it might even increase the resale value.
In an instant, anything can change in life.
Deciding to turn left instead of right at a traffic light can save your life -- and you may never know it.
That's why the movie "Sliding Doors" is so great.
Small choices and seemingly minor chances can shift things massively.
Redditor Lexie_Mark wanted to hear about how life can change drastically by the smallest influences, so they asked:
"What's a seemingly minor decision you made that ended up having a massive impact on your life?"
I had dinner with a guy once.
I told him a joke and let him read 5 pages of my writing.
Now I write for this website. BOOM!
Right Turn
Never Mind Baby GIFGiphy"Turned up to a military recruiting day on the wrong weekend as a youngster. Walked into a BBQ for traumatized veterans accidentally. That changed my mind."
flecknoe
Moving on...
"I had moved countries and decided to go back home after initial plans didn't work out. Had a ticket booked, was in a hotel near the airport, and got an invite to stay with online friends for a week or so before going back. Deferred my ticket, took them up on the offer."
"Met the love of my life there- moved to his city, have a new job, new friends, new life completely."
Severn6
Hey Teach
"While I was experiencing a period of career ennui, I treated myself to taking some college classes in biology, which I had always been interested in."
"While walking in the neighborhood close to the university one day, I saw one of the professors walking down the street, contentedly eating some ice cream. I don't know what possessed me, but I actually stopped him, said hello, that I was in one of his classes, and how much I liked the course."
"I have come across many professors in such casual circumstances before and since and never had the inclination or the guts to talk to them, particularly when they are clearly just having an enjoyable moment and likely don't want to be annoyed by a random student they don't even know."
"But I talked to him, and we had such a nice chat that he invited me to come to his lab and potentially do some work there. I came by a few days later, and he asked me a few questions and then asked one of his postdocs if he'd like to have me give him some help on a project. The postdoc said yes, and within 2.5 years I had my MS in biology (advised by Dr. Professor and helped greatly by that postdoc), and I was on my way to getting my PhD.
"Now I'm the prof."
zazzlekdazzle
On the Vespa
"4 months ago I was riding my Vespa to the gym on a Saturday morning, and I was T-boned by a car pulling out of a side street. She was looking the other way to make sure the traffic was clear and didn’t see me."
"I was coming from her right (in Australia, left-hand drive) and the front left of her car hit the back of my Vespa. If I had been half a second faster, I wouldn’t have been hit."
"I ended up with a crushed lower left leg and foot, permanent nerve damage, and 2 weeks in hospital. Fast forward to now, and I still can’t walk or move my leg and foot, I’m in unimaginable pain, and I (just today) lost my job."
"The recovery timeline is looking like 18-24 months and there’s no guarantee I’ll walk again."
"I was just trying to be healthy and go to the gym on a Saturday, and now my life has totally turned upside down. lol. Sigh."
ShoeAccomplished119
Swipe Right
tinder GIFGiphy"Matched with a guy on Tinder and complained about my current job. Encouraged (and walked me through) the recruitment process for a government job and 5 years later I’ve had 4 promotions, earned almost twice my old salary, and have much higher job satisfaction."
misssofifi
Maybe Tinder isn't so bad after all.
Key Strokes
Jim Carrey Reaction GIFGiphy"Taking a typing class in 1974. Almost no guys took typing at my school. Made life with computers a lot easier."
A20Havoc
"Same here, it was the main reason I got a job in IT, I was able to have a lifelong career."
MyIpodStillWorks
Run
"Started running because I heard it helps with chronic tinnitus, now run 5 days a week, lost 20 kg, stopped drinking, and can sleep. It doesn't cure the tinnitus, there is no cure and probably never will be, but it made it more manageable, lowered the volume in my head, and let me sleep easier. I still have it and struggle with it sometimes, but running/exercise for me is the best way to mitigate the stress chronic tinnitus causes."
rickdangerous85
Brisbane
"Buying tickets to Guns 'N Roses. I'm from Northern Australia and went to the Brisbane show. Ended up going with an old friend who was looking for an extra roommate, moved to Brisbane, did an audio course cause I needed something to do, and ended up working in the music industry full-time. Just got off tour with Suicidal Tendencies as their backline tech and have had an incredible career so far."
Acquiesce95
No Regrets
"My current job was a throwaway application I submitted purely for interview practice. It was one of two listings I saw at once, one was quite detailed and looked really good, and the other one was a handful of vague bullet points that seemed interesting enough. The one I was hoping for never replied, the other one offered me more than the maximum salary on the ad. No regrets."
PM_me_ur_navel_girl
Forever
Smooch Love GIF by molehillGiphy"I decided to have my first ever one-night stand."
"We've been together for 12 years!"
CrabbiestAsp
"So you still haven't had a one-night stand!"
NickyDeeM
Ah, the curse of the one-night stand gone wrong.
Love is all around.
