Day 14 - Your earliest memory

I'm not sure of my age in this photo, but I'm guessing I'm around two to four years old.

Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between real memories, and memories I think I have because of photographs or stories my family shared with us. There are certain specific events and places I remember, but I wasn't sure of my age, so I had to ask my mom.

I thought that most of my early memories were around the age of 5. But my mom says that the things that I remember must have happened by the time I was 2 years old. I remember my grandmother and great-grandmother's house in Paarl, South Africa. It was about 2 hours' drive from my parents' house.

I remember playing in the garden with my brothers and stepping in a huge thorn that fell from a tree. I also remember watching kids' shows on TV and a movie that scared the bejesus out of me. I remember clearly what the house looked like inside. There was a little park in the neighborhood where we used to play and a very specific Christmas where I got a ridiculous amount of presents that Santa had left in black bags at each door of the house.

I also remember their domestic worker, Katie, and how friendly she was and that she used to give us candy. My mom says that they moved out of that house when I was about 2 and a half years old, which means that I remember all these things from when I was VERY young. Is this normal? As far as I know, we don't own any photographs of these places and events. Weird, right?

I love that my earliest memories are at my grandmother and great-grandmother's house though, and that they are all happy memories. Well, except for stepping in that huge pointy white thorn... that sucked a little.

What are your earliest memories?