Isn't it funny how memories work?

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

Post a memory that never leaves you.

At the time the incident(s) were experienced, we never really know how good or bad that memory will be until we actually remember it. Sometimes we are surprised we actually remembered it, days or many years later.

 

[atmas]

Bernstein: A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl.

 

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

I remember Anna.

It was the summer of 1980. I was 16 and quiet, and she was 17 and loud. I was poor and her family was very well to do. Mean and obnoxious, until I told her she was full of shit. She had long, rich, auburn red hair that looked like shimmering dark gold in the sunlight. Blue eyes and freckles on her shoulders. Long legs, knobby knees. Always barefooted, cutoff jeans, and a t-shirt. And funny and smart, with a terrible temper. Always cheered for me when I fucked up. One time, I slid head first into 3rd, thinking I was tagged out.....I bounced upright on base and there she was, gripping the fence like a lifeline - wiping tears from her eyes and laughing as I spit the dirt out of my mouth. We talked about our futures when we fished together. We skinny dipped, fished, and swam a lot. She liked that shitty old first truck of mine. I dominated her every time we made love.

 

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

My dad had 1/2 bottle of beer in the fridge with a cap on it. Late one night I peed in it. Did he drink it or throw it away? Or both?

 

[jones1982]

I don't have remember any funny memories
I am still trying to remember...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There are no such things as memories.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

I remember Jenny.



She was a sweet thing; her daddy was in jail. She lived in an old house my family used to own...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

We had another Jenny I knew, a childhood friend of my sister.

She was so cute, all the boys were in love with her.

Cancer took her at 13.

 

[butters]

chewing on my cot's wooden rails to soothe my itchy hot gums when i was teething as a tot. i still recall the taste and texture and coolness it afforded

 

[MonaLittle]

Bernstein: A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl.

I Love this.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I remember Jenny.



She was a sweet thing; her daddy was in jail. She lived in an old house my family used to own...

Not possible. All thats possible is recognition. Beyond the initial recognition the collection of neuronal groups that create the recognition erode and decay, and if the recognition isnt refreshed with real time encounters the neuronal groups are scavenged to the point where the recognition evaporates away.

 

[Farrah]

What a wonderful thread! I've really enjoyed reading what's been shared so far.

A few of mine...
I remember the night I was to meet the woman for whom my father had left my mother. I was a tomboy at age 5, but my dad made me wear a dress, and he propped me up on the sofa with my hands in my lap and told me to smile as she came through the door. Even at that age, I understood she was "the other woman," and that there were already plenty of reasons to hate her. But what I remember the most is the resentment that built inside me as we waited for her to return to their apartment after her nursing shift ended. Sitting ramrod straight on the couch, smile forced across my lips, hands in my lap (no fidgeting!) in that god-awful uncomfortable dress, I despised her from first glance, and though my father tried to present me to her as some sort of doll baby, she hated me, too. They married the first Christmas they were together, without telling anyone beforehand. One of my Christmas presents from my father that year was their wrapped marriage license. At age 6 I was apparently supposed to decipher on my own that they had married and that this was to be some kind of gift in my life. My dad certainly had fucked up ways of presenting things.

Separately, whenever I drink Dr. Pepper, I am reminded of my first trip on a plane. I was 11, on my way to visit my favorite aunt all by myself. My mom had packed me a goody bag to keep me occupied in flight. Among the books and snacks, she had included a Lip Smackers chap stick in Dr. Pepper flavor. At that point in my life, I had never felt so grown up or excited. Dr. Pepper brings back the thrill of that first flight every single time.

 

[Jenny_Kawaii]

Not to be a downer but....my mother attempted suicide when I was 12. The memory of that night, being woken up by my father, having to rush her to the ER, my older brother crying and trying to keep her awake....yep I remember it like it was yesterday and not 25 years ago.

 

[Farrah]

Not to be a downer but....my mother attempted suicide when I was 12. The memory of that night, being woken up by my father, having to rush her to the ER, my older brother crying and trying to keep her awake....yep I remember it like it was yesterday and not 25 years ago.

Some times the bad makes more of an imprint than the good. Sorry you still have to remember that night!

 

[Jenny_Kawaii]

Some times the bad makes more of an imprint than the good. Sorry you still have to remember that night!

Thanks Luckily she filled me with lots of good ones too, but yeah sometimes parents don't realize the impact they have on their kids good and bad.

 

[Farrah]

Thanks Luckily she filled me with lots of good ones too, but yeah sometimes parents don't realize the impact they have on their kids good and bad.

QFT, my father being the perfect example!

 

[RobDownSouth]

Separately, whenever I drink Dr. Pepper, I am reminded of my first trip on a plane. I was 11, on my way to visit my favorite aunt all by myself. My mom had packed me a goody bag to keep me occupied in flight. Among the books and snacks, she had included a Lip Smackers chap stick in Dr. Pepper flavor. At that point in my life, I had never felt so grown up or excited. Dr. Pepper brings back the thrill of that first flight every single time.

This made me smile.

 

[Farrah]

This made me smile.

Making you smile made me smile!

 

[Batch]

uncle charlie's garden
he gave us children tours of all the nooks and crannies where he had created little scenes of tiny people's lives. Little cars and driveways, boat docks, and farms.
He had these fake plastic birds which all lived exciting lives and told him stories which he then told us. There was a monkey who lived in the enormous tree, but it was always sleeping when we visited. But he would point out the house way up in the trees. How that little house got all the ways up that tree, but I was a child and believed that the monkey built it himself.

 

[Farrah]

uncle charlie's garden
he gave us children tours of all the nooks and crannies where he had created little scenes of tiny people's lives. Little cars and driveways, boat docks, and farms.
He had these fake plastic birds which all lived exciting lives and told him stories which he then told us. There was a monkey who lived in the enormous tree, but it was always sleeping when we visited. But he would point out the house way up in the trees. How that little house got all the ways up that tree, but I was a child and believed that the monkey built it himself.

Uncle Charlie sounds wonderful!

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

I remember getting my mouth washed out with soap for calling another little boy a motherfucker in the third grade. Motherfucker was a common word on the streets of Philly and I didn't even know the meaning. I threw up on my teachers powder blue dress.

Ah yes, fond memories.

 

[Batch]

Uncle Charlie sounds wonderful!

his garden was his escape from his mean wife, Aunt Mae. Oh she was mean.

Drank Tab, like it was water.

talked crap about uncle charlie all the time.

He helped feed us when we hit a rough patch, with loads of food from that glorious garden.

 

[Farrah]

his garden was his escape from his mean wife, Aunt Mae. Oh she was mean.

Drank Tab, like it was water.

talked crap about uncle charlie all the time.

He helped feed us when we hit a rough patch, with loads of food from that glorious garden.

Is Uncle Charlie still alive?

 

[Peregrinator]

Everybody should have an Uncle Charlie. Bruce Chatwin's Uncle Charlie had what everyone said was a piece of "dinosaur skin" in a glass case in his house. That led Chatwin eventually to go to Patagonia and write the wonderful book, In Patagonia, as a result.

 

[Batch]

Is Uncle Charlie still alive?

He was in his seventies when I was a child. He passed when I was in my early twenties or late teens... so that puts his death about thirty or so years ago. When I was able to begin my garden, he was in every thought and choice I made. He taught me so very much about plants. He said, the simple things, the common stuff makes for grand fertilizer... he composted, oh that was a wonderful thing at the time.
Old timey all the ways.