Core memories
Posted by pickle_day@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 242 comments
I constantly see Millennials going on about 'core memories' and it seems a bit bullshit to me.
What about Gen X? What are your core childhood memories?
Bonus points if it's not a traumatic one (but I'm guessing many will include some physical injury that happened because there were no adults anywhere to be found).
La_Mano_Cornuta@reddit
Lots of core memories triggered by smells.
Hot fresh asphalt - Spending the entire day out at World's of Fun (amusement park in town we'd hit every summer.)
Diesel fuel - takes me right back to the motor pool as a 19k tanker in the Army.
PuzzleheadedBand8246@reddit
My husband was a tanker back in the late 90s; I remember him coming home smelling like diesel fuel. Except the time he came home smelling like the Spur Ride. Yeesh.
lechelle_t@reddit
Yes, smells are powerful. The smell of onions cooking in a cast iron skillet immediately takes me back to my grams kitchen. Spearmint also reminds me of her.
Which-Vegetable8886@reddit
Summer - the break from school..Field Day in school. Super Mario Bros 3. Freestyle music, Def Leopard. 106.7 Lite FM. Benny and Joon. Gin Blossoms. The NYC busses were $1.25 a ride. I walked everywhere and rang doorbells. Thinking back, it was the cutest thing for a boy to ring my doorbell. "Writing letters" to my best friend..
catzpyjamas@reddit
Omg Field Day...I had forgotten those!
ReindeerWise5170@reddit
Loved field day! We did it all the way through high school as well!
Which-Vegetable8886@reddit
It was so much fun. I also think that the 4th of July was great too.
Geology_Skier_Mama@reddit
Rollerskating. All.The.Time. I'd skate at a rink, on the sidewalks, in my driveway. I'd skate to the yard to do cartwheels, still wearing the skates because who has time to take off skates for a random cartwheel? I also learned to ride my bike while wearing skates. š
ReindeerWise5170@reddit
We ice skated on the road all the time. The traffic was very low back then! We called it snow skating because it was really just compacted snow
MotherOf4Jedi1Sith@reddit
The only time I had a babysitter was during the summer, though she was only 3 or 4 years older than I was. We lived close to a large brewery with horse stables and the sitter would sometimes take me there to see the baby horses. We would walk along the train tracks and would try to guess how many steps it would take to get there.
ReindeerWise5170@reddit
By the time, my sister and I were five and six, my parents let us babysit our ourselves. One was in charge of the other to make sure nothing went awry.
Ok-Till-5285@reddit
Dad taking all the neighborhood kids to Dairy Queen for a small ice cream cone. We would pile about 6 or 8 kids in the back of the station wagon (no seatbelts) and off to DQ we would go. As an adult I appreciate this even more because my parents were pretty poor, so it was a struggle for them to do this, and they did it.
ReindeerWise5170@reddit
We were a short walk from the only grocery store. And the owner knew that we were not allowed to have Candy unless it was Saturday. So I was never able to sneak candy on other days unless I sent a friend in!
Unlikely-Ad2660@reddit
Baseball Hall of Fame with grandfather a few months before he passed. I was in 5th or 6th grade and it was glorious.
PuzzleheadedBand8246@reddit
As a baseball fan who never understood baseball until long after my grandpa died, I will always be a little sad that we never went to a game together.
I'm making it up to him this year by going to a Padres game with one of his letters to me tucked into my pocket. I miss him.
LagrangianMechanic@reddit
So did āInside Outā create/make the term mainstream? Or was it just riding along with something that was already there?
Kolfinna@reddit
Yeah it was around before
LagrangianMechanic@reddit
Was it already mainstream though? Or was it just bopping around in psych circles only?
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Yeah I don't know but I read it was around 2015 it started to become a common phrase. I think it's mostly just called 'foundational memory' if you are in psych/memory research and is more broad than how the film shows it.
lovelylynda@reddit
Inside Out was originally released in 2015. I think there is some psychological stock in it, because Pixar tends to do their homework, but on the other hand it is animation. When the previews came out, I really remember thinking āThey made a cartoon of Hermanās Head!ā
I think a big one for me was Kevin Collins getting kidnapped. To this day, it probably still affects how I see the world and honestly, how short or long a leash I give my child depending on our environment.
Delphi238@reddit
My brother spiking the punch at a wedding reception. The old folks and kids were all passed out by 8:00.
Ttthhasdf@reddit
I remember being very young, probably four, and sitting on my grandparents floor with my cousins and watching a rocket launch on TV. Everyone was pretty excited.
ReindeerWise5170@reddit
My dad worked at NASA during Apollo 13
ReindeerWise5170@reddit
Living in a small village during elementary school. We would play hide and seek with all the kids that lived there and the entire village was in limits. Then at dinner time, my mom would stand at the door and yell our names to come in for dinner!
Beneficial_Run9511@reddit
You should know by now that millennials crowded out all of our core memories
Certain_Chance_4797@reddit
We have core memories that aren't traumatic? LMAO
Past_Walk_3605@reddit
Mom brushing my hair while watching sonny and cher on a black and white TV eating popcorn and drinking purple Kool aid
Ok-Toe3535@reddit
So many core memories. Leaving my house to wander around until I found my friends, our group then wandering around everywhere unsupervised until curfew, my dad bringing home the weirdest food crap from work that we still laughingly refer to as the āgovt cheeseā years, summers at our little harbor beach every single moment possible, boating on the weekendsā¦ & ofc, my parentsā divorce.
Honestly, for me, we grew up during a great era for kids. So much freedom.
Acceptable_Usual1646@reddit
Sorry only traumatic core memmories
Bilbaw_Baggins@reddit
Breaking into abandoned buildings and running amok.Ā
HermioneMarch@reddit
Bonding on the bus on my choir tours.
Being harassed on the school bus on the way home every day.
Summer camp, six flags, fast food restaurant playgrounds, Showbiz pizza, being terrified of roller skating but attending sll the birthday parties anyway.
snohomie@reddit
May 18th 1980. I was at a Boy Scout camp out at JBLM (Fort Lewis, WA at the time), when Mount St. Helens blew. We heard the boom in the morning, but thought it was the army doing something. We On our way back home you could see the ash cloud.
Decent-Structure-128@reddit
On this day, my uncle was a news journalist in a small plane flying to interview Harry Tubman on Spirit Lake.
He got in trouble for breaking the news from the plane, because no official comms from the monitors had come in yet. The blast blew the plane off course, and the couldnāt find the lake. He had front row seats. When they confirmed he was telling the truth, they didnāt fire himā¦
My dad was traveling in eastern Washington and it got dark when thrash cloud come over the area. We were still in Portland at the time and went to my great aunts house to see incredible views of it from a safe distance.
catshark2o9@reddit
I remember New Years 1981 and the song Celebration by Kool and the Gang playing. I think I was in my backyard (we live in California so not that cold) and my parents there.
wolfysworld@reddit
I loved skating through the house to that song blasting! My mom loved music and she always had something playing on an 8 track.
Turdulator@reddit
Good memory - Summer camp I went to from age 8 to 15, and then I worked there as a counselor for a few years more. A wonderful place that helped build alot of who I am now.
Bad memory - in elementary school watching the Challenger explode on live TV in an all school assembly, after weād spent weeks of lesson plans about space focused on that particular mission and the school teacher astronaut and all the others. We spent weeks getting to know all about them, then watched them die a horrible death. It was terrible.
brownmtn@reddit
There were 7 people in my family. Iām the youngest. We used to drive to FL to see my uncle once a year. We had a car that seated 6, including the middle front seat. My seat was someoneās lap, the floor or the back window area. No car seat. And surely no seatbelts.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
No seatbelt = me falling out of a fast moving car on a highway in the middle of nowhere as a 4 year old. I don't remember it but that was definitely a core memory for my brother - he was six and was the one in the front with my dad who looked around and said "Dad, she just fell out of the car!" I was all smashed up but no permanent injuries. Good times.
catzpyjamas@reddit
Omg. My mom drove an old crappy Gremlin (the second one of my childhood!) And the passenger door would fly open on it's own when we went too fast. The amount of time my sister and I almost fell out...
kpblvekgxd@reddit
Wow!
Blue_Henri@reddit
My dad had a 280Z and my parents drove with me in the hatchback one Christmas to grandmas 1700 miles away.
Apprehensive_Boat516@reddit
Skateboarding down a huge hill. Hill looks a lot smaller today.
jk_pens@reddit
Conversely there was a steep road I used to ride my bike down and when I saw it again as an adult I was aghast that I did that on a bike with shitty coaster brakes without a helmet.
Apprehensive_Boat516@reddit
I would do it again at 60..
ChickinMagoo@reddit
Taking a note to the store to buy cigarettes. The note was a fake, the smokes were for me and my friends, back when they were less than $5 a pack and you didn't need ID to buy them.
1998no3@reddit
I remember 2$ a pack.
undeniably_micki@reddit
Heck I remember when everyone pitched a fit **because it went up to $2.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Hahahaha! That's great š (well all of it except maybe the smoking bit but we all cared less then).
WaterwingsDavid@reddit
I grew up in Europe before coming stateside. We would go on beach vacations to neat places like Malta. Dad was very overprotective of me, so I'd always be wearing waterwings. I knew how to snorkel 5 years before I could swim! I loved jumping into the deep, clear water and floating! I always felt safe and happy floating around.
Also going to visit my grandparents. Grandpa would pick us up at the train station in his 73 Valiant. I loved that car! Their house was small but cozy and there was always great homemade apple pie, cookies and food. On Saturdays Grandpa and I would go to Redding Terminal Market to pick up fresh bratwurst. He'd make that and German potato salad.
undeniably_micki@reddit
This sounds lovely!!
cbawiththismalarky@reddit
I remember my first day at school, I cried a lot
undeniably_micki@reddit
I was the kid that looked at you weirdly, wondering why you were crying - sorry about that. I was excited because it meant I was free from Mom for a few hours & there were people who were nice to me.
ancientastronaut2@reddit
My dad often took me to Jungle Island on the weekend, which was across the street from Knotts Berry Farm (it has since been turned into a parking lot and water park).
I cherished those moments because it was just him and me. He let me lead the way as I ran around in there, and always brought me ice cream afterwards. It was also a nice break from being around my cruel mother.
Another core memory is like eight of us cramming in the car and driving up to Hearst Castle when my grandparents visited from out of state. I loved that place and wanted to live there when I grew up.
Ginger630@reddit
I have lots of core memories. Christmas. Playing with friends at recess. Going on vacation with my family. My grandparentsā yard. Lots of family and friends around. Lots of music.
I grew up in the Bronx in the 80ās, so there was always something going on.
Low-Teach-8023@reddit
Riding around on backroads with my dad or grandfather. My grandfather took us in the back of his pickup truck. Sometimes we just rode around and sometimes we went swimming in a creek. On Saturdays when my mom was at the beauty shop, my dad would take us riding around until it was time to pick her up. We would always stop at a convenience and honey buns and something to drink first.
25709@reddit
Visiting a great auntās farmhouse (I was 3) complete with chickens, cows and a hand pump for water (house dated from 1848)
ExternalHyena5770@reddit
Core memory..... one that no generation after will experience.
After school, everyday, starting in 5th grade,... I would come home from school, un -band the bundle of newspapers, fold them (with a rubber ban),, load them in the bags on the handlebars of my bike, and deliver them.
This went on until 10th grade
I had the freedom to buy my own shoes, and clothes that I liked
EllaMcWho@reddit
the smell of those things - rubberbands and newsprint...
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Ah yeah! I remember one year I did that with my brothers and we saved all the money until one day we blew it all at the local agricultural show on rides and showbags, junk food and toys. It was like being 8 year old millionaires for a day
DistractedPoesy@reddit
Mid 70s. My dad was in the military so he moved a lot. I was an only child. Both my parents come from large and impoverished families so I have a lot of relatives. When we come back from overseas, my parents always made sure we visited family so I could get to know them. One year, my mom and I lived with my dadās mom because my dad had to go to Korea.
This time was one of my favorite memories. I had many cousins my age that I got along well with. My grandmother would wake up every morning, smoke her cigarettes, drink her coffee and watch the community news scroll. Grandma was addicted to the National Enquirer and I was always riveted by the tales of alien or Sasquatch sitings. I remember grandma would save her used cigarettes in a coffee tin for times and she didnāt have money for them. I recall thinking it was kind of gross. We had our morning routine together, and I loved the comfort of grandmaās presence. Then it would be time for me to go to school. This small but calm routine built-up so much affection and love for grandma.
My very favorite thing was sometimes the whole extended family would gather on the weekends and theyād play music on the record player or Aunt Lisa would bring out her guitar and we all sing along to John Denver songs. There was so much warmth and fun. Every weekend was a family party. Even if they didnāt have much money, they were fun.
As a military brat, I was able to live in many places and get to do many cool things but my time with my relatives was most precious to me. Iām really glad my parents made an effort for me to bond with relatives.
Ahleanna-D@reddit
Sorry, my biggest core memory wonāt get me the bonus points.
Wink527@reddit
Summers, we made up 3 neighborhood tackle football teamsāUphill, Downhill, and 1 from the neighborhood across the highway.
We had practices and made up a āseasonā schedule. The Jr. High and High Schoolers were the coaches and referees.
Grilled_Cheese10@reddit
I remember constantly playing baseball games. We had 2 fields around our neighborhood - basically open land where the owners let us play. It would be a mix of whoever was available, boys, girls, all ages.
In the winter there was a lake behind our subdivision and the big boys would shovel off a big area to play hockey. I figured skated a lot when there was no hockey going on, or in the areas of the lake that were clear.
vin4thewin@reddit
We were a military family stationed in Bolivia, and went on vacation to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a great day at a local fair, the five of us boarded this huge, old, wooden roller coaster. As it creaked and lurched to the top, my parents turned around from their seat and smiled at us. My mom then said, āWell, if we die, at least weāll all go together!ā āWait, what?ā my young mind thought as the coaster then threw us down the tracks. We survived, obviously. Trust in my parents? Fifty years later thatās still in question, lol.
mden1974@reddit
I think that your parents faking it till they make it is the real core memory.
MelodyRaine@reddit
Realizing I was "that kid" the one who if I was going to go do something [in this case go see a movie at the local theater] that all the kids on the block would be given permission to go.
MelodyRaine@reddit
The other one I was about five... my mother took me into Manhattan via the subway to go eat at WoHop Restaurant. On the way she bought me a puppet, looked kinda like a cross between an ostrich and a firey and had those marionette strings with the wooden cross to control the limbs. I still think about that puppet every so often.
ArcticPangolin3@reddit
That unlocked a memory from when I was about five. My mom was driving us home from my cardiologist appointment, news about Watergate was on the radio, and she had bought me this big stuffed turtle, I guess to make me feel better. It was smooth cotton and came with a pen so you could have friends autograph it.
BartStarrPaperboy@reddit
Box 350, Boston Mass. 02134
DameEmma@reddit
Send it to Zoom!
BartStarrPaperboy@reddit
I still do that arm thing. What was her name?
DameEmma@reddit
Bernadette?
BartStarrPaperboy@reddit
OMG: https://www.bernadetteyao.com/about
Konklar@reddit
Somewhere between the ages of 6 and 7, I completely cleared an Etch-a-scketch screen. Saw Star Wars and Star Trek. I got George Takei's autograph.
b5wolf@reddit
Playing with the neighborhood kids. No supervision at all. We played Red Rover, rode our bikes, freeze tag, and made up games. We used to stand in a circle, throw Jarts straight up and whomever didn't leave the circle when they came down won. I remember a Jart literally skimming my arm on the way down and actually thought about how close that came. Not enough to not participate in the next game, of course. I now think about how stupid that entire idea was.
AnotherBaldWhiteDude@reddit
Having my dad stick his arm out and letting me do pull ups on it. i was prob 6 or 7.
xBobaFattx@reddit
This will sound weird, but I grew up in rural Iowa on a cul-de-sac that was in the middle of fucking nowhere. There were a couple kids in the neighborhood my age and we would make "bases" and little environments using things like grass clippings and twigs for our GI Joes. Pretty much anything we could find. When it was winter, it was my favorite time because we could go nuts with the snow with GI Joes.
Like most of you, I was latchkey, but I was also the youngest of 3 and my older brothers were a good bit older so I was home most of the time alone. I swear, those action figures got me through lol. I remember those moments very vividly.
Some action figures, my imagination and grass clippings. Can you imagine if you told a kid today that is what they had to play with?
jk_pens@reddit
You triggered for me the memory of playing with army menā¦ those little green plastic standup ones.
LuckyAd2714@reddit
Core memories is kind of reminiscent of the movie āinside outā. Core memories are things that you remember forever and shape you. Good or bad
StatusNerve5@reddit
I remember playing in the backyard with cousins and neighborhood kids. We would dig in the dirt and make mud pies, play games, play on the swings. We were always outside until the streetlights came on or we got called in for dinner. There were no cell phones. Your parents just yelled for you out the window.It was great.
orangeandtallcranes@reddit
Same. Mud pies were made from ājugalaā
melonball6@reddit
The only time my dad took me to a playground when I was 5 and it had a spiral slide. It was so cool and it spoiled me for slides after that. No injuries. Just a core memory.
jk_pens@reddit
Most of mine are either trauma or mischief I still wonāt admit to ;)
One that is neither is the blizzard of ā79. Growing up in the DC suburbs I had never seen so much snow. It was quite exciting and we were stranded at home for a few days. I remember seeing someone x-country skiing down the street, and building tunnels under the snow and a huge snow fort.
WasabiChickpea@reddit
Having my birthday party at McDonalds. I think I was in 2nd or 3rd grade.
spunquee@reddit
Happy cake day!
icedyoga@reddit
Riding bikes and running wild.
Jason_TheMagnificent@reddit
I'll go with the obvious, watching challenger explode on TV in my sixth grade science class š
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Challenger is coming up a lot. I remember it too but I was in Australia so I don't know we watched it live because of the time difference. We definitely didn't watch it at school because it was summer holidays. But I'm pretty sure we kids just watched it alone at home when our parents were at work and it was just repeated over and over and over again for days. So horrible. All you kids together celebrating and all excited must have been totally freaked out.
Historical_Monk_6118@reddit
Why say you think going on about core memories is a bit bullshit, then ask everyone about their core memories? š
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Good question! I think I meant that it's a thing that Millennials do but Gen X not so much, that phrase 'core memory' is the part that shits me a bit, and how they seem to use it as a way of making memories now, to store as 'core memories' later, not actual stories from childhood.
snap802@reddit
The term was popularized by the movie Inside Out. I'm not sure how much the term would have been used before that (either in pop culture or actual scientific literature). I think in terms of seeing it popularized now it's just something that everyone experiences but didn't really have a way to clearly describe it. Now we have "core memory" as part of our culture so people can talk about it more easily.
wannabuyamonkey1001@reddit
Sophomore year, physical science, fifth period and a girl burst in telling us Kurt Cobain died.
Watching the OJ verdict on tv in government class. She told us we werenāt allowed to react or discuss it. But she wheeled in the tv and we watched it live.
It probably says a lot that I have zero from my younger years.
Jas62021@reddit
Core memory
I was around 5 when my grandfatherās company had a huge family day at a country club. Pool, food , games and pony rides.
It was my first time on a pony, and I remember hearing the sound of his hooves on the paved path. The smell of his coat in the sun. The leather of the saddle. And I was hooked.
squirtloaf@reddit
The Bicentennial.
Star Wars.
All of the usual running wild on bikes, hanging out in the woods, coming home at dark stuff.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Star Wars was so great! I think it was the first time I cared about figurines and I remember dreaming about being able to collect the whole set in the Darth Vader carry case. I think I managed to get a total of three figurines in the end lol but didn't really care. Marketing tactics were already pretty hardcore for merch then I guess, we would have seen loads of ads on tv for that stuff for years.
squirtloaf@reddit
I was one of the kids who got the early bird gift certificate on Christmas of '77 because they didn't have the stuff manufactured in time for the holiday!
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Wow!
VioletSmiles88@reddit
There is a particular holiday that my parents took us on, driving up the east coast of Australia. I have so many core memories from that trip I took my kids on a similar holiday when they were a similar age.
The trailer axle broke on the way up and we had to camp on the side of the road for a few days until we could get a ride into the closest town. Added an extra 2 weeks to our trip which meant the entire school term off.
We had to do our school work before we could go and swim in the Queensland shaped pool.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Road trip memories are so great!
RiverWhole4388@reddit
In first grade I always saw AIDs in the newspaper and it was a word I could read. To me AIDS were the people who helped you at school. I remember crying and telling my teacher that I didn't want our Aides to get killed. Because I kept seeing those 2 words together.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Aw that's so awful!
UKophile@reddit
John Lennon
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Oh yeah I remember that. And my mum making us be silent while she listened to the story and parts of his last ever interview. We could tell it was something really meaningful even though we didn't really know who he was. She was so stunned.
Mysterious_String676@reddit
Grew up with a recreational park across the street, that had a pool with 3 1/2-ft walls, this would be empty all year long except for summer, of course. We use this for ball hockey daily! We would play until the street lights came on or somebody called us home for dinner!
C-romero80@reddit
Being able to run around the apartment complex with the other kids, riding bikes and seeing how fast we could go down a side of the area that was dirt and semi hilly. Sunday bay days playing with a core group of the same kids being with our parents.
Yeah there were some traumatic events in my childhood/life, but never at the hands of my parents. I had a pretty good childhood and trying to give my kids the same.
Sasquatchmas@reddit
I never see kids running around anymore. And if there are a few someone on the local fb page will complain bitterly. The children are always with adults at the park. It's weird.
C-romero80@reddit
Yeah it's sad. I live in a neighborhood where there are only a few other kids, and the ones that live closest are rude and don't play well with others. Like deliberately kicked a ball at my window immediately after my husband told them to kick it the other way and not at the window.
3catlove@reddit
Kind of traumatic but my dad took care of us. We were in a VW bug and I was maybe 4 years old. Somebody was slamming into the back of our car on the highway and trying to run us off the road. My mom was pregnant with my brother. I was in the backseat and didnāt even have a seatbelt. They told me to lay on the floor. Dad threw a hammer out of the vehicle which hit the guys windshield and he eventually crashed his own vehicle. The guy was on drugs and we were fine. Dad said he told the cop that heād see him at the hospital and was pretty pissed. (Heās 6ā and big guy and was a contractor at the time, hence the hammer.) The officer told him to not go to the hospital. Someone at the police station gave me a coloring book.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Holy smokes that is an amazing story. It totally is hard to know what memories are ours and what are our memories of photos and hearing those stories. Glad you have some great memories too!
grodo71@reddit
Riding bikes and just exploring different areas and neighborhoods with friends. Also, playing football in empty lots ... we'd regularly have 10-12 kids (sometimes more) ready to play at any time.
ConstructionOk4996@reddit
Finding a Texas horned lizard in the field. My father taught me how to rub its belly so it would fall asleep. I put it in a little box while I built a "corral" out of interlocking plastic Popsicle sticks. Then I put the "horny toad" in the corral and brought it ants to eat. I played with it for a little while then felt guilty that I'd "kidnapped" it, so I put it back.
I also remember one spring when it rained more than usual and there were thousands of tiny toads everywhere, about the size of your thumbnail. It was difficult to walk outside without stepping on one.
There was also the night our house got hit by a tornado, but that's more traumatic and loses me bonus points.
Psychological-Joke22@reddit
"I played with it for a little while then felt guilty that I'd "kidnapped" it, so I put it back."
You are a sweetie. I used to wear snakes like bracelets and show off them to my grandmother who was terrified of them, but she put on a brave face for me, anyway.
ConstructionOk4996@reddit
Your grandmother was a saint!
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
So many bonus points for you! I love that there are a lot of nature based memories coming up in these stories - and not just natural disasters lol
Ok_Walk_4945@reddit
Playing softball or dodgeball during recess in 8th grade!!
cupofblackhorsesoup@reddit
The first broadcast of MTV. A friend was having a slumber party and we all sat there staring at a screen with the logo waiting for it to start.
OliveBadger1037@reddit
I remember that too! Was so amazing!
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' was a big moment too!
nvr2manydogs@reddit
My next door neighbor and best friend had brain cancer. I remember people making fun of his head. I think that's when I became hard core for the underdog. I was in 3rd grade.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
That's a real life changer there for sure. People get crazy about everything being politically correct now but imagine making fun like that. I think we finally can see how shitty that is and that's a good thing. Good for you standing up for your friend.
KarmaBike@reddit
At age 12, a 13 year old goddess pinned me against a locker and kissed me.
32 years later we had a trystā¦
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
No way!!! That's wild!
OliveBadger1037@reddit
Saturday morning cartoons. Sitting on floor watching the Lawrence Welk show while my grandpa smokes his pipe and my grandma does the crossword puzzle.
Psychological-Joke22@reddit
Watching Tom and Jerry before I went to school and discussing the episode with my best friend, who also watched it before school, is one happy memory.
Another is riding my bike with my best freind sitting on the handlebars, going to my place to put on makeup.
Walking everywhere, going to the mall with my friends, going to "things remembered" or "hallmark" to pick out glitter sitckers.
I had a wonderful childhood
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Glitter stickers! The best!
Open_Confidence_9349@reddit
I have a ton of bad core memories, but some of my good ones are:
The whole family actually getting along and watching the movie of the week on tv (usually Disney, but also Jaws 3D, etc.). My mom would make popcorn with her popcorn maker and weād all have butter all over our fingers.
Going to the drive in with my family, most of the time we got along okay for this experience. Iād get to play on the playground under the screen if we went to the right one before the ads started. If it was cool outside, weād have that little heater hooked up to our window as well as the speaker. Always got popcorn and sno-caps from concessions.
Most of the classrooms at my elementary school had doors that opened to the outside, the windows didnāt open. I have one very vivid memory of a warm spring day in third grade with the door open. I can picture the classroom set up, where I sat, I can smell the freshly mowed grass, feel the breeze, and see the papers from the in and out baskets flutter around from getting hit by the breeze. Nothing at all spectacular about this memory, but whenever a breeze catches me at just the right angle and just the right temp, Iām transported back in time to that classroom.
prntmakr@reddit
We lived on an island for a portion of my childhood. Every July 4th, we would motor from the inland side of the island where we had a slip to the seaward side where they had a barge that would launch the fireworks show. It was a pretty magical place to spend the evening when the weather cooperated. One year, a storm rolled in during our trip home for a pretty dicey ride. My dad and his best friend piloted us home through the rain, wind, and waves while our two families huddled in the small cabin. It may have been less severe in reality but in my eight year old mind, it was that storm in the opening of every episode of Gilliganās Island.
EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit
Two weeks of my senior year the school district had a teacherās strike. Awesome! Bonus was instruction time didnāt have to made up!
fsharpminor_3s@reddit
Drinking from the water hose on a hot summer day.
rphjem@reddit
Sleeping out under stars in yard or truck bed (no ac in farmhouse) and hearing the frogs singing š¶
Town friends getting scared by country noises and wanting to go inside.
Making a playhouse in corncrib once it was empty in summer.
chimpyjnuts@reddit
Getting cable tv and MTV.
AlikaTT2020@reddit
Definitely riding bikes and knowing every kid in my neighborhood. Oh yeah, and how happy we were when we saw or heard the ice cream man coming.
strugglinfool@reddit
MOOOOOOMMMMMMM!Ā”!
THE ICE CREAM MAN IS COMING!!!!!!
CJK_Murph@reddit
Riding bikes to and from the neighborhood pool!
I looked it up recently and itās become a downtrodden abandoned property. Made me so sad!
youngkpepper@reddit
Riding my bike to the neighborhood pool for swim team practice every morning.
The two week school closure in January 1982 thanks to the event referred to as "Snowjam '82".
GettingOffTheCrazy@reddit
Getting a dirt motorcycle as a 12 year old girl. No one warned me about the exhaust and I burnt the crap out of my leg. I loved that bike though.
Why-did-i-reas-this@reddit
I have tons of core memories. The interesting thing is that my first one is when I walked into the door of my grandparents house at the age of 3 after immigrating to my new country. I donāt remember a single thing before that but I remember that moment. My parents are amazed at all the things I remember and recollect from my past.
skipper_jonas_grumby@reddit
Playing in my second year of little league baseball. I was batting in the last inning of the championship game. We were down one run with a runner on second and two outs. I hit a fly ball to right field where a girl one year younger than me was playing. She never moved her feet, closed her eyes and stuck her glove in the air and the ball landed right in her glove to end the championship game.
I think about it several times a year, every year for over 40 years now now
viomon2@reddit
Did she go on to be CEO or super successful? You may have changed the course of this kids life!
Kolfinna@reddit
Playing hide and go seek on with my cousins on their farm, in the barn or at night in the cornfield. Picking corn and running back to the house with it at dinner to have the freshest food Random drives with my dad as a kid, sometimes we just drove other times he'd stop at some random place to play. Or ending up at the local VA for a beer and all the old guys would give me a quarter to play the pinball machine. Last weekend I just took a random drive around town and realized I really was just like my dad.
Zandor72@reddit
Probably the entire backbone of growing up was "riding bikes". Just outside, all day (in the summer, weekends) riding places: friends houses, swimming spots, undeveloped areas to build a fort...
This of course all ends around age 15 when friends start getting driver's licenses; now you hang out at the local arcade/malt shop or mall...
GoodDoctorZ@reddit
Challenger, being outside, finding ways to stretch the rules, Saturday morning cartoons, concussion from Red Rover.
upnytonc@reddit
Extended family get togethers at my grandparents house or my auntās lake side cottage. Just playing with my cousins and listening to the adults drone on about current events and politics and jobs etc. Me not having a care in the world.
siamesecat1935@reddit
Just being a kid. Not having to worry about a house, bills, or much else, other than getting my homework done, chores around the house, and playing with my friends. Life was so much simpler then. you weren't available 24/7. You wrote letters to people, called them on the phone, or walked over to their house to see if they wanted to come out and play
Watching Saturday morning cartoons, playing outside ALL day. Going to the pool in the summer. Riding my bike to the library, and then through downtown and stopping in at all the cool stores on my way home.
Meekanado@reddit
Running around barefoot everywhere in the summer and having leather feet by August. And that feeling of being light and free.
exor0110@reddit
Pizza Hut pan pizza.
3catlove@reddit
A personal pan pizza for āreading a million booksā campaign! I loved those!
Six_Pack_Attack@reddit
Standing in wrap-around lines with my parents at a movie theater that no longer exists.
4Q69freak@reddit
Standing in line with my (much) older sister, BIL, and nephew to see all 3 of the original Star Wars trilogy. They were all 3 at the same historic theater (used to be a Vaudeville theater) and the line was wrapped around the block for all 3.
Six_Pack_Attack@reddit
Yep, very clear memories of the line for Empire, Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
2ndChanceAtLife@reddit
Trying to fix a bicycle chain that came off the track. Sneaking into Mom & Dadās bed early weekend mornings. Before they taught me how to make coffee. The bicentennial. Flags were everywhere. School lunch trays.
Astronaut6735@reddit
In first grade, Steve K. held a piece of Big Red gum in his fist, and told me to smell his fist. I did, and he said "that's cocain." I ran to a teacher complaining that "Steve made me sniff cocain!" They got the Principal involved. Kids are so dumb. š¤£
TiredWillie24@reddit
The Bicentennial.
emjaybe@reddit
Driving out west to visit family in the station wagon, sleeping in the back (without seatbelts!) And playing car bingo with my sister to pass the time.
HelloStiletto14@reddit
Sneaking cigarettes š¬
Randomwhitelady2@reddit
Going to the roller skating rink
Capital-Meringue-164@reddit
šÆšÆšÆgreat memories of this!
Careless_Ocelot_4485@reddit
Watergate. Bicentennial. 3 Mile Island. Iran Hostage Crisis. Crash of AA 191 (We lived about 3 miles from OāHare Airport). John Lennon shot. Ronald Reagan shot. Pope John Paul II shot. New Coke. Challenger disaster.
DominicPalladino@reddit
We didn't start thr fire.
Impossible_Luck_6193@reddit
Corporal punishment
Signal_Cake5735@reddit
This.
purpleskyblues@reddit
Those plastic Halloween costumes and masks.
The feeling of cheap polyester nightgown and the static they created
Sleeping in the back of the station wagon on the way to the beach
Twittenhouse@reddit
The day John Lennon was shot there was also a hostage / shooting situation two blocks from my house.
For years, I thought John Lennon was shot two blocks from my house.
DiotimaJones@reddit
Watergate hearings. Space lab. My momās high school friends returning from Viet Nam. Long gas lines during oil shock. The launch of cable tv and hearing swear words for the first time on television. The crunchy feel of rotary-dial telephones. Going to the one tiny local health food store before organics and vegetarianism went mainstream. The Beatles breaking up.
NoeTellusom@reddit
3 Mile Island.
The gas crisis.
Sitting in hot car, fighting the traffic to get to Jones Beach.
DianaSironi@reddit
I met my best friend standing in line for elementary school. They arranged us by age in every class - at the time - or alphabetical. We were the two youngest. We're still bfs 48 years later!
CitizenChatt@reddit
š core memories?
DianaSironi@reddit
Yes, and not to eat the apple core bc it was poison.
watchwatertilitboils@reddit
Looking up "bad words" in the dictionary in 5th grade with a group of unsupervised kids. I was cool because I suggested "reproduction" and there was a picture.
Now we hand toddlers porn machines
2workigo@reddit
In third grade I looked up āfartā in our basic classroom dictionary. The definition was āa minor explosion between the legs.ā I, however, wrote the definition as āa minor expedition between the legs.ā My mom found that scrap paper in my bag and had a hell of a laugh.
NoRestForTheWitty@reddit
My Silent Generation dad tried to look up āwhore,ā but couldn't find it under āH.ā I always thought that was a cute story.
DaddyOhMy@reddit
I couldnāt have been more than three at the time because we moved from that apartment shortly after my third birthday.
I was playing with my friend and we were hiding under this bridge like it was part of a castle moat. The bridge was actually a walkway to one of the buildings in the apartment complex that went over a dip in the area in front of the building.
I know it happened because I can still describe the area in detail. A little over 40 years later I happened to be in the area and went back there with my wife to show her where I lived when I was little and she was amazed by how much it looked exactly as I described it except for one detail. The "bridge" was maybe four feet above the ground and I always described as being so much higher than that.
RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit
My biggest core memory is the feeling of true freedom. Getting home from school. No responsibility beyond getting a snack and doing whatever I want for 3-4 hours until my mom got home. Those hours of pure and total freedom were so nice and Iād give anything to feel that again.
cosec00@reddit
A few core memories:
Still mastering how to ride my bike and crashing into an apple tree in an old lady's yard. She came outside and yelled at me.
Playing in the creek in the woods near my neighborhood and catching frogs and tadpoles in the spring. I vividly remember the marsh marigolds all over the place.
My dad going to the house of the kid who was bullying me and talking to his dad. The bullying stopped.
Playing kick the can with all (and I mean all) the kids who lived in our neighborhood. Delta Dawn was playing outside on the radio at one of my friend's house where I tried to hide.
7th grade, sitting in study hall and looking at Time or Newsweek that had a bunch of pictures of the aftermath of Mt. St. Helen blowing up and being fascinated.
Normal-Mortgage4745@reddit
I loved kick the can! So much fun. God I wish we could rewind for one day.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
So many cool moments there. Nature ones are also some of mine, but they are usually kind of dark. Like the time we stayed on a working dairy farm for a holiday and us kids went out exploring on our own and found a dead cow in a back paddock all bloated that had died during calving. I feel like we all grew up a lot in that moment... There were six of us and my friend and I were the littlest ones. There's a scene in Napoleon Dynamite where the kids on the school bus see a farmer shoot a cow and I remember 'our' dead cow every time I see that movie.
Ollyollyoxenfreed10@reddit
Challenger exploding. That is so ingrained in my memory that I can remember every single thing about that moment.
brownmtn@reddit
A kid in my class asked the teacher if the astronauts were able to parachute out before it exploded. A dumb idea, but we were dumb kids, and shit like this happened on cartoons like GI Joe all the time. The teacherās response was an unhinged āNO!!!! THEY WERE BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS!!!!!!ā
Several kids started crying after that.
Randomwhitelady2@reddit
I was in the hall changing classes when a friend told me. Her class was watching it live, mine wasnāt. I didnāt believe her at first.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Oh yeah I think nearly everyone remembers where we were when that happened. Watching that live as a kid - wow what an impact.
Doc-Milsap@reddit
A lot of visual pictures like my room, my house, playing in the backyard, holidays with family. Those are some of my favorite core memories.
Available-Bison-9222@reddit
A family holiday to Canada when I was just 4. We went to a forest where there were log cabins and we were told they were the houses of Goldilocks and the 3 bears.
We got take out from KFC (which wasn't in my country) and we ate it in the basement of my cousins house (basements in houses wasn't a thing in my country) and we watched sesame street.
We had a big family dinner with all the aunts, uncles and cousins and I was allowed a sip of wine.
jakexcited45@reddit
Riding bikes and playing ball from morning until night
GreyPerspectives@reddit
I remember going and picking out my dog when I was 3! Had her till I was 17. She was a magnificent dog!
LeighofMar@reddit
Having the entire encyclopedia collection to help with homework. Each one had the sign language letter for that volume in the front so I taught myself the sign language alphabet with that. It was pretty cool.Ā
Going to the cleaners and asking for their extra cables for Double Dutch. I think we paid a nominal fee.Ā
Just running around after school playing and having the time of our lives. Not an adult in sight.Ā
CountHonorius@reddit
I lived outside the USA at the time, so my 'core memories' were student riots - bad ones, many deaths - earthquakes and incredible soccer parades down main avenues.
Katiecake80@reddit
Playing in the woods all day during the summer then coming in the yard when street lights came on only to have our older brother and his friends come join us for a game of man hunt (hide and go seek in the dark) and we were able to run amok again since he was āwatching over usā
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Imagine kids doing that now. Or maybe, imagine parents letting their kids do that now.
Katiecake80@reddit
I feel bad for kids now a days. Sucks for them
PahzTakesPhotos@reddit
When we were stationed in Missouri, there was a big old tree next to our driveway on the Army base. The roots were growing in such a way that grass didn't really happen around them. The roots were also curved in an almost bowl-like formation and it made it perfect for playing marbles.
Another really good memory from that Army base was when the Budweiser Clydesdales came to the base for the Fourth of July. I loved (still do) horses and my dad gave me the little 110 camera and told me to take photos of the horses. I burned up a whole roll of film taking photos while they were being unloaded and tacked up. I'm pretty sure that was the moment that sparked the photography bug in my brain.
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
Best core memory for me was spending the night at my paternal grandparents house every Friday night because that was my parents date night and their house was magical in my eyes. It was a tri-story house with plum trees lining the sidewalks and ivy vines trailing down from the roof to the grass in the backyard where my grandpa hung a tire from the biggest tree and Iād swing on it until I got dizzy. My grandma would make me my favorite dinner (creamed tuna on toast) and sheād always let me help make dessert. Honeysuckle vines were draped over the stone wall in the backyard and there were always bees and humming birds around.
HungryMenu8627@reddit
I stayed at grandparents while my parents had a night out periodically too. Best part was pretending to be asleep when they came to pick me up so I could stay overnight and hang the next day too.
jinxdeluxe@reddit
I mean 'Inside Out' is a good movie, but I really hope people don't take that core 'memory stuff' seriously ...
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
100%! Seems a lot of younger people took it seriously. It's a cartoon FFS. I absolutely loved it but when that whole core memory trend came out I was taken aback.
umbathri@reddit
What is core supposed to mean in this context? If I can remember it, its part of me and helped shape my being. Therefore every single memory in my head is core because all the useless chaff was discarded as being insignificant.
shiny1988@reddit
You hit the nail on the head. A core memory is one that lasts while the others get erased. See the movie āInside Outā if you want more information.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Yeah that's a good point. I don't think it's real science or anything but I think the idea is that there are just a few key moments in early life that were formational or life changing. But yeah, memory is a trickster so it can change through the years for sure.
Gweveraugh@reddit
Best core memory for me is of my paternal grandfather. My dad worked afternoons and I wasnāt in schools yet. He would take me to see his dad almost every day. Grandad had the biggest smile for me, every time, and had is hands out to take me from my dad. ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø
I always knew I was his favourite. Now that I am older, I wonder if it was because I was his last grandchild and the ONLY one that looked like him. š¤
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
That's so lovely. Grandparents can be so important. Lots of is never had them around so I love that you did AND that you loved each other. Beautiful.
Waffuru@reddit
Hanging out with one of my best friends in front of our apartment complex with, for some reason, "Break my Stride" playing on the radio. I don't know why that song specifically, but whenever I hear that song I think about him and wonder where he is today. He moved away without getting to say goodbye and I never saw him again.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Oh wow. Songs do totally have that power to take you back to a specific time and place in the past.
Sithstress_@reddit
The local baseball team (semi pro? AAA? Not sure of the term) playing field had a huge hill outside the outfield. When my parents took us to games theyād bring cut up cardboard boxes and weād spend the time sliding down the hill on the cardboard while Dad got drunk and Mom kept him from getting arrested. Between innings and during the stretch weād heckle the players for autographs. Good times.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Such a great vignette. I want that as a film clip to a Bon Jovi classic. š
siciliana___@reddit
Spending the entire day outside around the neighborhood, playing at different kidsā houses, going on adventures, and not having to be home until I saw the porch light go on and off three times.
Paratwa@reddit
One we all (mostly) share? Challenger explosion.
MNPS1603@reddit
I lived in a cool neighborhood - hilly, trees, winding roads, creeks, ponds, surrounded by acres of vacant wooded land. I remember spending hours upon hours riding my bike, fishing, following the creeks, etc. it was just large enough that I never got bored, always something to check out.
Capital-Meringue-164@reddit
One summer my single mom took me to work with her - Iām one of 7, so Iām still not sure why I got to come along - I was probably 7-8 years old. There was a motel with a pool across the street from her office and she let me go there by myself a lot of the summer. Iād swim and make friends with kids there on vacation, making up stories about how I was on vacation with my family. Wild to imagine letting your kid do that now, but at the time I thought it was great.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
That's so great!
CheckIntelligent7828@reddit
I have 2 or 3 great memories of my uncle before he was killed when I was 2Ā½. He was a test pilot for the Harrier and nearly all of them died in ~ a five year span.
Unfortunately, my cousins don't remember their dad at all, so I always wish these memories were theirs. But I remember him so clearly and he was a rock star to us 2 and 3 year old groupies.
Adorable_Bag_2611@reddit
Try to fall asleep on the covered porch at my grandparents and watching the lightning and listening to the rain on the roof. I was 4.
My great aunt putting handfuls of M&Mās in my pockets before letting me walk home. I was 3. I even accurately described not only how her couch looked but felt so my mom verifies this memory.
Seeing the first Star Wars movie. Details verified by mom. I was almost 4.
Funny enough, I blocked a lot of the traumatic ones out. Remembered one last week.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Oh yeah that first Star Wars movie! We saw that at the drive-in!!
teriKatty@reddit
The 8-12 hour overnight roadtrips (Alabama-Ohio) to visit my grandmom and dadās side of the family every summer.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
We did a trips like that too. Just the cassette player in the car, no aircon, nothing to do, no cute snacks, fights about who has to sit in the middle... Hell but also fun.
ManuteBol_Rocks@reddit
We pushed a huge truck tire with the rim inside of it down a huge hill on a street in our neighborhood. There was a Jeep parked at the bottom of the hill, and the tire slammed into the Jeep and knocked it up on two wheels. We got out of thereāfast.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
The original FAFO generation right there š
sotiredwontquit@reddit
The 1979 solar eclipse. I was just a kid, and bored for hours while everyone stood around watching nothing much that I could see. My mom had the eclipse glasses and kept telling me to look at the sun. And yeah there was a chunk missing. But I couldnāt see it without the glasses and the day was still normal light. Then the light gotā¦ weirdā¦ like way too thin. And everyone got so excited. All I could compare it to at the time was like Christmas morning, but it was the adults who were excited not the kids. Then it got really dim, like twilight, but fast. And people started cheering and clapping. And then it got pitch black. All at once. Midnight. It was the most astonishing thing. That sense of awe and wonder has never been matched. Iām forever grateful my parents dragged me along on that trip. I was a pill during the lead up. But I was into science from that moment on.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
That's so great! Really nice to be awed as a young kid about the planet we are all on. Nice one mum and dad!
sherlockjr1@reddit
A very early memory: Our dog, Bandit, was put in the bathroom when no one was around because if we didnāt, heād shred anything paper he could get his paws on. Punishment for being left alone.
He got up on the toilet seat, into the sink, put the stopper down, and turned on the water. Flooded the bathroom and down the hall. Turned out to be a bad life choice.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Oh poor bandit š¢
sherlockjr1@reddit
Yep, I felt bad for him. He ended up being relegated to the utility room. He hated it.
lacunha@reddit
Near my grandmothers house there was a creek my cousins and I could walk to. If you walked about a mile down the creek you could pop up in a Japanese garden. It was so cool.
eatdrinkdrink@reddit
Watching Solid Gold then singing Your Kiss is on my List while standing on a tree stump in my backyard pretending yo be a Solid Gold dancer šš»
toiletcleaner999@reddit
The other day I heard the theme song for fraggle rock playing and It immediately unlocked a core memory of me and my brothers sitting around the TV, eating supper on TV trays and watching it. We loved that and the racoons!
Mea-fae_Owl73@reddit
I remember me and my best friend/neighbor would watch Fraggle Rock together and would run in places (being fraggels) when the theme song played.
toiletcleaner999@reddit
Dance your cares away š š worries for another day. Let the music play š š down in fraggle rock. Lol
Johnny_2Times@reddit
Allot of us are just too old to remember allot of the 90's stuff posted on this thread. We don't want to leave as we love our GrnX but the majority posts are of things we've never heard of since we were born in the 60's. It would be so cool AF if we could have more of us older GenX putting in a bunch of energy here to showcase the 60's and 70's and early 80's,.......
kpblvekgxd@reddit
Thank you! I was in my 20's, stationed in Germany when Challenger exploded, and I don't think I found out about it until years later when I came back to the "world."
wendx33@reddit
Really?! I'm shocked you didn't hear about it, I assume that kind of tragedy would have made the world news. I was 19 when it happened, watching it in the dorm tv lounge.
kevinpb13@reddit
Skateboarding to downtown to see punk shows at the ādiveā venue. Everyone sitting on the sidewalk outside waiting for it to open, and the doobies just going up and down the line.
RedditWidow@reddit
It's not just Millennials. My Gen Z kids talk about them sometimes, too. I think the term is relatively new, from the movie Inside Out, but the concept's been around a while. I've always called them foundational memories. I have way too many traumatic ones that easily come to mind, but if I think of a good one I'll let you know.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
I guess that was a bit of my suspicion and I don't think the movie really got that theory right in a few ways. I guess it's nice for people to think of good memories but the idea that you can purposely create core memories is a bit of an issue. I'm thinking we Gen X are all old enough to have actual core memories that have survived the decades. I'm interested in how many of them are great memories (which is maybe what the Millenials mean by core memories).
RedditWidow@reddit
Yeah, I don't know if we can really control which experiences become part of our core personalities and values and which ones don't. It's more of a Test of Time thing, looking at things in retrospect, and often we're not even aware of the really deep ones until they're triggered somehow by a person, smell, old tv show, meal, phrase etc. Simply making good memories, or peak experiences, is not the same as a core memory (as I understand it).
mettaCA@reddit
Riding my bike to the downtown on weekends. Shopping in the variety store and candy store. Getting family gifst for birthdays. Going to the children's theater in the downtown.
I lived at the top of the street on a hill with a big wash at the end. There was a big drain pipe and we used to get on our skateboards and lay on our backs and go down the drain pipe under the street so we wouldn't have to worry about not being able to stop at the bottom where there was oncoming traffic. lol
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
That sounds awesome. š
blue-violet-@reddit
The Blizzard of 1978. Walking down the street seeing only antennas of cars, which were completely buried. Weeks of tunneling through backyards.
profjamie4102005@reddit
And the snowfall in South Florida in 1977.
Jumbly_Girl@reddit
I guess mine is having full summer days with the ability to go anywhere in the city with a $1.00 all-day bus pass. Am I going to the park, the beach, downtown, to the big library, to the movies (could see 3 or 4 in a day on one ticket), to the Y? Just get up, grab a bite to eat and head out.
geebzor@reddit
Core memory lol.
Hereās one: my father screaming at me as a child in the middle of the night because I was scared and calling for my mother consistently.
pickle_day@reddit (OP)
Right? This is kind of what I mean by core memory. Like something that absolutely shocks you to your core, or your body remembers too, or something that shaped you as a person. Not going skiing in France or whatever. Not those memories.
Also, am so sorry that happened.
Enough_Time516@reddit
Playing ghost in the graveyard at night with neighborhood kids! No parents around
brendini511@reddit
Mt. St. Helens erupting a week after my 7th birthday. I don't really remember the ash falling by us but apparently we got a light dusting. Drove to Wisconsin with my grandparents that summer and there was still ash on the ground in places.
We didn't actually watch the Challenger, but that would have happened before school started.
MindFluffy5906@reddit
When Elvis died, Regan was shot, when the Gulf War started, the earthquake in SF during the world series, 70's gas lines, and real cafeteria food that the lunch ladies made from scratch every day. It always smelled so good!