The earliest memory I can recall occurred when I was either 3 or 4 years old. I remember my pre-school class had a class pet; it was a black, white, and tan guinea pig. Every weekend a different student was able to bring home the guinea pig and take care of it. Finally when it was my turn to bring the guinea pig home, I remember bringing home a plastic ball that you were able to put the guinea pig in. My brother and I rolled the guinea pig around in that for a while and we also had a circular fence to enclose the guinea pig in too. When we put it in there, we watched it run around for a while and eventually the guinea pig escaped from the fenced in area and started running around my family room. It was very hard to catch him and my mom, brother, and I finally trapped him in a corner behind my sofa and we caught him. After that, I remember feeding the guinea pig carrots in one of our bathrooms upstairs. I did this because my mom didnt want me to lose it again when I had it out of the cage, so this was the best spot.
I think I am able to remember this experience so well because I always wanted a guinea pig of my own throughout my childhood and I also remember the experience because it was funny to chase the guinea pig around the house. As I think back, I believe that the same person experienced taking the guinea pig home for the weekend is the same person who is attending Carnegie Mellon today. I do not feel that my identity or personality has changed, I am just an older version of the person I was when I temporarily lost the guinea pig. I feel like I can justify that I have the same personality as I did when I was 3 or 4 because I would still find the same experience really funny today, if I were in this position again.
