Memories

Memories

They say the words "But you have your memories" when someone passes on or a person might think to themselves, "all I have left is my memories".  But what if you don't remember anything.   I read a book once about a little boy in the frontier times and his mom had died.  His greatest fear was that he would forget what his mom looked like or the things she said or did.  He feared it to the point of not wanting a new mom lest he love the new mom so much he might forget his real mom.  Memories can give comfort but they can also be debilitating.

My mom sent me an email the other day remembering that June 6, 1946 was her graduation day from Lourdes High School in Chicago, Ill.  68 years ago.  How does she remember the exact date???  Because, she says, "It was a sad day for me because my best friends would all be going different ways in life."  She even remembers what she and all of her friends did after graduation, she told me, "I became a secretary at LaSalle Extension University in Downtown Chicago.  My friends all became nurses, with the exception of two, who went on to college." 

I think emotions play a huge part in the things we remember.  How what someone said affected you, or whether you were ecstatic or sad play an important part in what you remember.  I don't really remember too much of my childhood for some reason.  I only remember the things we frequently talk about as a family.  After my mom's email about her high school graduation, though, I tried to remember any of my graduations.  There is one I remember that was kind of a bummer - right before my 8th grade graduation I got a permanent, well, it took...it really took...it really, really took and so when I was wearing my graduation cap, I felt like I looked like Bozo the clown with two puff balls of curly hair on each side of my cap.  It's funny, I've never seen a picture of my 8th grade graduation any where.  Maybe I did look like Bozo the clown and all the pictures got destroyed so I wouldn't remember.

I have found that sometimes it is best not to remember.  My hubby and I have been married for over 40 years and I firmly believe that being forgetful has played a huge part in the success of our marriage.  Letting go of things allows the freedom to move on and not hold a grudge.  Being forgetful doesn't let you bring up things that happened ions ago.  And that's a good thing.

Anyway, memories are what we have to keep us going and to give us those warm fuzzies of a life filled with love, laughter and happiness.  If your memories are not warm fuzzies, I challenge you to go out and make new ones.  My mom reminded me that it is possible.  She said of her high school friends, "We stayed friends for awhile, but as time goes by you make new friends and life styles change.  Guess "That's Life"."

Click below:  (Music and amazing pictures of Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand)
"Memories" by Barbra Streisand