This week between Christmas and the New Year has often seemed a final period of
Last edited Mon Dec 26, 2022, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)
repose before we plunge once again into a world too seldom concerned with "quaint" notions of "peace on earth, good will to men". Couple that with the fact that I will turn 74 in '23 and it is not surprising that I am spending some time considering not just specific memories, but the "why" of memories in general: Why do we totally forget some experiences or happenings while the granular details of others can be summoned forth with ease?
In my case, vivid memories can be easily divided into two categories. The first could be labelled "terrible" or even "horrific" the second "wonderful" or "awesome".
In my first category lie several memories that bring a lump to my throat and a knot in my stomach. I am sure some have more numerous and more horrific images in that section of their mind, but at the front of that line for me is opening our door to a uniformed trooper at 5:34 a.m. who had the duty to inform us that our child had been in a "very serious" traffic accident, had "very serious head and neck injuries" and "may not live". That child did live and recovered fully, but that early morning doorway notification is branded onto my soul. I think we involuntarily store such memories and their occasional recall is an intrusion; a wound reopened.
My personal second category is crowded with moments that literally make my heart swell with joy that sometimes causes my eyes to overflow. Above all else on the his list is a sunny day over half a century ago when Mrs A and I were not yet married. We had not seen each other for a few months and as I got out of my old car in her parents' drive, SHE ran to me and tearfully embraced me in a "bear hug" and kissed me in a way that took my breath away. We were so much in love!
That memory still takes my breath away and fills my eyes.
Our wonderful memories are, in my view, those that we intentionally pressed between the pages of our mind 's diary so that, like long-ago blossoms,their beauty can still make us smile and hope we will see more.
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Spent all of Christmas week in the waiting room at the ICU. The memory still seems fresh sometimes. My mom loved Christmas and having her family all around her
Your memories flew from your post and now reside inside my heart and mind.
Both of them, so vivid and heartrending in their own different ways.
Thank you for bringing us into your world today!
