Memories for the Forgetful
I have a notoriously bad memory. My sister says she does, too, and so we think it’s a genetic thing. Which explains why I often make plans with my mom and sister, but then we all forget we had plans.
It’s not just that I forget things like plans, I have forgotten whole chunks of my life for no apparent reason. I can’t remember anything about high school, for instance. I know I had a great time and that I had some really fun friends, but I can’t remember any details or stories. I can barely even remember college. I remember the same two or three exceptionally funny stories that always get retold around college friends, but that’s about it.
Sometimes I get bummed that I can’t remember anything from really great times in my life, but for the most part, I’m pretty happy with my in-the-moment mindset.
This weekend, though, the weather cooled off a bit so we opened the windows for the first time all year and a vivid memory from my childhood came over me. I had just changed Gracie and put her in a fresh, clean onesie. She was full and happy and sleepy, and as the breeze blew through her nursery and she drifted off to sleep, I distinctly remembered that same feeling when I was younger. I remembered my mom putting me down for a nap on hot afternoons with the windows open and the breeze blowing when I was probably about Bean’s age. I remember the feeling of laying there and hearing other neighborhood kids playing outside or family talking in other parts of our house. It was such a peaceful and content way to fall asleep.
The same thing happens when I go camping. When I lay in the tent and hear people walking by and the gravel crunching under their feet, I think back to when I was growing up. My parents took us camping all the time. I remember being in our little pop-up camper late at night with my sister sleeping next to me, listening to my parents talking quietly by the fire, as people walked by on their way to and from the bath house. To this day, the sound of people walking on gravel will make me stop and smile. It was – and still is – one of the most relaxing, comforting sounds in the whole world.
I remember the feeling of waking up sick in the middle of the night when I was younger, too. I’d be hot and sweaty from a fever and suddenly my mom would seem to appear out of nowhere with a cool washcloth. She’d pull my hair up and lay that cold washcloth on my neck. I don’t remember a specific time I was sick, but I vividly remember that feeling of my mom making me feel better.
Sometimes, I catch myself doing things for my babies and distinctly remembering the feeling I had when that same thing was done for me as a kid. This past weekend when I laid Gracie down and that breeze blew in, I stood there for a minute or two breathing it in, both remembering my own childhood and appreciating the one that my babies are living.
I’m glad that those memories of peacefulness and comfort and love that my parents gave to me are stronger than my very forgetful memory.
Though, on the plus side, I have found a forgetful memory often blocks low points in your past, too…
23 Comments
Alyssa
I lov that even your dad wore pink, how cute 🙂
Angela
A pink family portrait.
Thats so awesome.
Laura @ Casa del Hansen
Adorable! And I’m glad you have a chance to keep those memories (and share them!) here.
Claire
Cute pic, Katie, but that’s a killer fringe!! Hahaha, I only just realised that you’re all in pink. My family have virtually the same portrait, except we’re all in blue against a blue screen. Hilarious!
Jen @ Caved In
The smell of lilacs always brings back memories of my bedroom windows open during the summer. We had a lilac bush there and I would listen to the night sounds and smell the sweet lilacs.
So I’ll see your monochromatic picture and raise you a poodle perm…Only not my bangs. That was an awesome look.
Jenna@CallHerHappy
Jen, I will call your poodle perm and raise you an “I was born with a mullet.” Or something like that. I’ve never been good at poker.
Sandy
my memory is even worse, but my sister…the complete opposite! she can remember stuff that even God has forgotten…names, dates, events, clothes she was wearing when such and such happend 40 years ago, you name it. when she starts on one of her “do you remember” tears, i start to think that maybe i was raised by wolves instead =o)
Maureen
Wow. That is a lot of pink.
Angie
Wow Katie I never realised but Bean looks sooooooo much like you!.
Ella
I love a color co-ordinated family! Very cute!
Cindy
That is some great memories to have. It makes me think of my childhood and some of the things I remember, good and bad…..
britt@knewlywifed
That’s a priceless pic!
Suz McA
Katie – I have the WORST long term memory! (But a great short-term memory, which served me well in school). Like Sandy… my sister has crazy memory. She looks at pictures that are 20 years old and says “So & so gave me that outfit for my X birthday & I was X years old in that picture so it must be June 1990.” For me, everything past a year ago is fuzzy! I sometimes wonder if periods of my life really happened…maybe that’s why I’m obsessed with photography. Proof that I did in fact go to college, lived in Chicago, visited some crazy awesome places, etc. etc. I love the moments -like you- where a certain place, sound, smell reminds me of my past.
Michelle
I second Angie’s comment: Bean does look a lot like you, now that I see that picture!
I was also looking for the “Olan Mills” mark that is present in so many family pictures from the 80s. We have one- I am wearing a hot pink top with flourescent colors and a black belt (over the shirt) over black leggings. Complete with a side ponytail. And I thought I was hot stuff back then- had to have been about nine or so!
I agree about the memories, though. To this day, if I hear Hall and Oates or Genesis, I’m transported back to our family trips in the old ’83 Escort, watching the sunset over the 57 freeway. If I smell Bengay, I’m taken back to my grandpa’s chiropractic office when I was four. And the smell of the ocean brings me back to camping on the beach with my grandma, listening to the waves crash against the shore at night as I was falling asleep. To this day, there’s nothing more soothing to me than the sound of seagulls and the ocean.
Lindsey
I love those kinds of memories. I’m also a music memory girl. Music takes me back to very specific memories. Thanks for sharing and LOVE the family pic.
Rebecca @ The Reluctant Housewife
I’m pretty sure I have pictures from my childhood where my bangs were “teased” into a ball on the top of my head. Who would let your kids go out like that?!?!?! I have another family picture…Olan Mills….where my bangs are shellaced into a wave of sorts, and you can literally SEE the hairspray in the picture. And let’s not talk about the liquid eye liner and blue eye shadow I was wearing…and I was 12.
Calypso
Great post! I love opening up all the windows in the house to let the crisp cool air in. Oh how amazing is that!? Gosh, I wish I had your type of memory… guurl! EVERYTHING STAYS BURNED IN THIS BRAIN! It’s awful. I don’t forget. I don’t forget the awful daily horrors of high school. I don’t forget that I was frightened of sitting by myself. I don’t forget that college was a time of great awakening about who I was, and realizing that the people all around me who were supposed to love and protect me really never cared and shoved me into a fire to rid of me as quickly as possible. I know.. sorry to be a downer. I wish I could just have gaps in my brain and just remember the good stuff. I just don’t have that capacity.. My man has a brain like yours… praise the Lord he forgets all my crazy antics and snappish ways.. God bless you!
Kristin
ginny’s smile is priceless.
Alaina
It’s amazing how those memories can just be triggered by the littlest thing. BTW love the family pic – so cute!
Tressa
LOVE the family photo. LOVE you all match. LOVE the way your dad is holding your Mom!! Your Mom is so pretty!! It’s no wonder you and Ginny are so stinkin HOT!! 😉
Lindsay
I never realized how much bean looks like you! This picture is so adorable! It reminds me of the picture your parents had above their fireplace in GB. The one of you with Ginny on your back. That picture is beyond adorable. Makes me wish I had a sister. 🙂 Miss you and your family!
Kelly
I have a “can remember everything from 20 years ago, nothing from yesterday” type of memory. And, I can call & raise Jen’s poodle perm with my elementary school look of long, stringy hair, except for the bangs…which were permed. (I can’t believe I just admitted that on the Internet.) It was like a mullet with a knot in the front. I could kill my mom for agreeing to let me do that.
Jessica
I think my memory is triggered by smells. I can smell something and instantly it is like I am 4 or 5 or however old again. Sometimes I don’t even know what the memory is right away but my brain is able to recognize that it is familiar and associate it with a specific memory! the way our memories work is remarkable!