"My First Memory"

Here's something I wrote in my creative writing class. We were instructed to write about our first memory...

The cold January air seemed to burn my face as I opened my eyes to see that I had been displaced from the seat of my father’s pick-up and was now lying on the floor, surrounded by pieces of shattered glass. I was frightened and confused; however normal and appropriate a response crying would’ve been for a three year old child, I could not seem to shed a tear. I looked up into the seat where just a few minutes earlier I had been seated between my father and older brother. My brother and I had often made the 3 mile trip from our farm into town with our Dad. We loved riding in his truck. On this particular day, the dirt road took control of the tires and the small white pick-up went off the road into a field. My eyes went searching for my father, the one who always made everything better, but he was nowhere to be found. I saw my brother halfway out the window and called to him for help. He assisted me in crawling out the window. The field seemed to go on forever. I could hear my brother talking to me, but his words were muted and unrecognizable. I felt a calmness that I didn’t understand as my brother and I started walking toward our home. We saw him lying face up covered in blood, unconscious and not moving. The tall grass seemed to envelop his limp body and even though I was only three years old, I somehow knew that my daddy was dead.

The next thing I remember is sitting in the hospital with my grandma. Miraculously, both my brother and I were unscathed. My father was flown to a hospital several hours away and was not expected to survive the flight, but he did. I don’t remember much else from this time, other than the day my father came home from the hospital. What a wonderful day. I’m not sure why this is the only memory I have of my early childhood. Perhaps it is because it was such a traumatic experience, or because I was overwhelmed with emotion. Whatever the reason, I will never forget the day I almost lost my dad.