The Origin Story

I have few clear memories of my mom. My dad dominates the scenes I do remember.

In his book, The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck writes: Frequently… the essence of a patient’s childhood and hence the essence of a patient’s world view is captured in the “earliest memory.”. It is probable these first memories… are remembered precisely because they accurately symbolize the nature of the person’s early childhood… The flavor of these earliest memories is so frequently the same as that of the patient’s deepest feelings about existence.

In my earliest memory, I was probably two years old. I am sitting in my highchair in the kitchen and what appears to be an enormous spoon (probably a tablespoon, but I was a baby) is coming at my face. I feel panic and desperation, my body is rigid with resistance, but I am buckled in and have no option bu ...