When I was first born, my parents moved in to live at my grandparents house for a year so my grandma could help my mom take care of me. In my earliest memory, I am lying in a crib in my grandparents house in one of the upstairs bedrooms. I think I just woke up from sleeping. Sunlight is shining through the window shade, lighting up the entire room. I am looking at a large bookshelf (maybe ten feet wide and five feet high) on the far side of the room, which is maybe a little more than five feet away. The bookshelf is the upper part of a desk. All the shelves are filled with books. On top of top shelf, just under the ceiling, there is a light yellow chick (baby chicken) stuffed animal. I stare at it for a while. I am not sure if I wanted to have it or I was content to just admire it from a distance.
Approximate age: 8 months
I think the moment was particularly memorable because the room was so bright at the time. Sunlight was shining through the window shade very intensely, so much so that the whole room seemed to glow.
Based on this memory, it is hard to judge if my personality was the same then as it is now, purely because I do not remember doing much thinking in the memory. The memory is more of just what I was seeing at the time. However, I think it is safe to say that my personal identity is different now than back then, because I have later memories from which I feel my personal identity has since changed.
