“Paint it all white, like a hospital!”

So, what's your earliest memory? While you're thinking about that (although I'm really interested, honest), let me tell you about mine. I must have been two going on three, and we were moving into our new family home. I remember it so clearly. As we stood in the hallway, my father turned to my mother and said "Let's paint it white everywhere, like a hospital!" Extraordinary, isn't it? You can't move in this blog without my comparing aspects of the charity sector to various random things like marshmallows, yoga, and underpants, and here we are: my very first memory is my father uttering a simile! You couldn't make it up. What makes an experience memorable? Three things make an experience particulary stand out in the memory: attention, emotion and novelty. And my 'new house' experience (I can't remember anything about the first place I lived in, just the day we moved) captures two of these three in spades. Emotions (nerves, excitement) would have been running high in my parents and older siblings, and this little toddler will have picked up on that. And the novelty aspect is clearly well covered, both in terms of the new house, but also in my father saying something that I must have found completely weird. Our most distinct memories are unique And this is where I cunningly relate it back to the charity sector. Is there anyone else in the world whose first memory is hearing his father talking about decorating the house to look like a hospital? I seriously do