Childhood Memory

Chelsey Stover

GE119-OL

McDuffie

Childhood Memory

        Have you ever had that one spare moment just sitting on your couch and all of a sudden you get a vision that feels like déjà vu ? That is more like an Implicit Memory, which is a memory that is not consciously recalled and is produced via indirect processes. Because people do not consciously recall memories stored in implicit memory, it can be difficult to note when one is using this form of memory.

My implicit memory consist of learning how to ride my bicycle when I was younger. It was around four o’clock on a Friday afternoon. Me, my younger siblings and cousins just got off the bus and ran down the road to our house. The sun had gone down while earlier that day it was blazing hot. All of the kids were trying to find something to do to occupy our time before it was our curfew to be in the house. Everyone started suggesting different activities such as “lets go to the park,” “let’s go get ice cream from the store,” Or “let’s play kickball.” Then there was my proposition, “lets race  down the hill.” We all thought about our choices and surprisingly we all agreed on my suggestion. So we all went to site were everything we needed to choose from in order to race down the hill. Some of us had bikes, while others had go-karts or scooters. After we figured out what we wanted we commenced up the hill towards our destination.

Once we all climbed to the top, we ensured that everyone was accounted for and ready to ride. Everyone was extended across the top of the street and I was adjacent to them on the sidewalk. My younger cousin asked “are you ready?” We all responded “yeah” excitedly. At that point, she said “on your mark, get set, go!” We all moved down the hill very fast with intentions to win the race. I felt like first place was mine for the taking. I wanted so bad to be able to rub it in all of their faces that I was victorious.

However, while going down the hill I realized the bike I had chosen was malfunctioning. The handle bars were not lined up with the front wheel. For this reason, I had been used to the brakes being on the handle bars, but consequently this bike was made different from what I was used to. In order to stop the bike, you had to press the pedals backwards. By the time I recognized I had to make the pedals go backwards and at the same time try to hold the handle bars straight, I came to the conclusion that I was indeed going to fall. I undoubtedly ended up doing exactly what I feared would happen. I hit my face on a light pole since I couldn’t slow the bike down. I was melodramatic and cried so much that today I can laugh about the “accident”. In the hopes that I would gain sympathy from someone, I went to my daddy and I recounted him on what had happen. Surprisingly, his words to me were “suck it up you will be okay.” I certainly assumed I was about perish and he told me that I would be okay. For this reason, I didn’t know what was on his mind when he stated that to me. I was an eleven year old child that had been deeply traumatized and scarred. Little, did I know that the advice he gave me would follow me through my existence.