I love listening to music, but on my commute back and forth to work, I’m all about audiobooks. I’m predominantly a fiction reader, and my favorite books are psychological thrillers with a surprising reveal at the end. However, I do try to sprinkle in the occasional non-fiction book, much like a mother trying to get a vegetable or two into her kids.
This week I started a non-fiction book titled Remember by Lisa Genova. Ms. Genova is a neuroscientist and professional speaker on the topic of Alzheimer’s disease. She has also written several fiction books in which the characters have neurological conditions. Her works include Still Alice, a book (and also a movie) about a woman with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.
I am fascinated by memories. Why do I remember what I want to forget? Why do I forget what I want to remember? Why do two people remember the same incident differently?
After my post on Random Blog Thoughts, in which I wrote about twisting the stem out of an apple before eating it, a friend of mine reminded me that when we were kids we would recite the alphabet while twisting the stem. Whatever letter you were on when the stem came out of the apple was the first initial of the person you would marry someday. Oh my gosh! I’d forgotten about that until prompted, but when I did remember, a string of other childhood chants and songs came to mind as well.
We had numerous elimination chants when determining who was “It” during chasing games at recess. Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish; how many pieces do you wish? Eenie meenie meinie moe, catch a tiger by his toe. Inka bink a bottle of ink; the cork fell out and you stink. My mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes…
Those memories reminded me of jump-rope songs like Miss Mary Mack and Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear turn around, which in turn made me think of making paper cootie catchers, and on and on.
According to Ms. Genova, events that are connected to places, smells, or other events are often recalled easily. I experienced that this week when my brother asked me if I was watching the World Series. I’m not a baseball fan and I haven’t watched the World Series in years. But I can tell you the last time I remember watching the World Series. My college roommate was a huge Alan Trammell fan and we watched the Detroit Tigers win from our dorm room at Ferris State. Two weeks later, my niece was born. I can tell you with easy recall that the year was 1984.
Attention is an essential part of creating a memory. Think about a time that you parked your car in a parking garage or large parking lot, but then struggled to find it later. Contrary to what you might think, this is not because you forgot where you parked. It is more likely that when you got out of your car, you were thinking about where you were going or what you needed to do. Without paying attention to where you parked, you never formed a memory of where your car was parked in the first place.
My sisters and nieces will be gathering for our (almost) annual Girls Weekend soon. This will be our 20th gathering over the past 22 years. We started keeping a diary approximately five years ago and have been rebuilding it each year with everyone contributing different memories about where we stayed, what we did, and what we discussed. It’s interesting to read the different perspectives of what was fun, what was not, and of course, the different things we remember.
In any case, there will be fun times, delicious food, and interesting conversation. I hope I remember the good stuff.
Once Upon a Willow 
The last World Series I also watched was in 1984 at Ferris State!
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