Grandma Henke

If you were to ask me how far back I can remember there is one very early memory that comes to my mind … I would have had to have been two years old or less.  

I remember the events of the above picture, Dad holding me and telling me not to go near the dangerous creek in Big Cottonwood Canyon.      I remember feeling safe in his arms, I remember sitting in the wooden baby seat with the horses painted on the sides, and I remember sipping on a bottle of 7-up and having it go up my nose.  

From what I have studied over the years, these are false memories because the left interior prefrontal lobe is undeveloped in infants … and it is required for long-term memory.   It doesn’t develop until the 3rd year.

False memory is a distorted memory of an actual experience or a fantasy that plays out in the mind as a true event.    Some false memories take bits and pieces of an actual memory and create one based on facts, but the wrong facts.      Some memories can be created from dreams, and some are actually because of suggestions by therapists, counselors, or family members.

The first time I became aware of false memory was when a good friend of mine lived in Lehi, Utah, and a scandal took place there that involved many of her friends and their families.   What actually took place was a social worker suggested and encouraged false memories concerning sexual abuse and satanic rituals.     Many families were destroyed because of what happened.  

It is easy to confuse a child and create a false memory.   People do it to children all the time.    “Remember when we saw the Christmas brownie jump over the ten foot fence?”    I remember that but I logically know it never happened.  My brothers convinced me it happened to make my Christmas more exciting.  

It doesn’t matter to me that the memories I have about the above photo have to be false because I know the facts of the memory are true.   I have the evidence in photographs and home movies … and to me the above picture has come to symbolize my father’s love and protection for me throughout my life, and I know THAT memory is real.