I ask you to read this article with your eyes closed. Well, not literally, but figuratively. Maybe find a moment, as you read, to tilt your head back, close your eyes and reflect.
Take a stroll down memory lane they say.
Not Penny Lane with the Beatles.
Not Drury Lane with the Muffin Man.
Let’s walk down memory lane.
Before you read on, go get your coffee. Get relaxed, settle in for what I hope is a feel good, lift-you-up, make-you-smile kinda of early morning read. After you get the coffee, start back at the beginning, please.Then skip this paragraph. On the second time reading if you have read this paragraph twice, you get an F for following directions. No really. Take a walk down that street running from the back of your memory to the front, never left or right. That street, lane, even road is the one you have walked in your life. All along you dropped morsels like Hansel and Gretel. I often wondered if we drop them to help us return….or are they a reward for returning!
The longer you walk, the more breadcrumbs you drop. When you started the trek, your eyes were full of what was before you, so you dropped pieces less often as you walked fast. Those you dropped were the most savory, even if sporadic. The further you went, you increased the frequency marking the trail as your speed and energy leveled out. Then you got tired, and rather than drop bites so often, you turned and admired those you had dropped. As you looked back, certain morsels drew your focus stronger than others. You may even begin to see other’s trails being made.
We all have triggers. That sight, smell, scent, word or phrase that causes us to pause and remember a memory. Not to be confused with déjà vu where a set of circumstances or sequence of events give the feel you’ve been there before. This is a memory of you being there, experiencing…
This trigger is that stimuli that invokes a recollection of some long ago moment. Not only who it was happening with, but also who it was happening to. Along with those thoughts are the seasoning of sight, smell, and background collected at that exact moment. It might be the smell of hot dogs on a grill or Hawaiian Tropic Coconut tanning oil, or a song you didn’t even know was playing. Maybe the reflection of ripples of water in a pool and the smell of chlorine combine to trigger. See, all of our senses are sending “data” to our brains all of the time and, as hard facts and figures, some data is more valuable if only by association.
There is no way to escape the triggers. No doubt, memories are so deeply instilled as to be permanently embedded. Etched indelibly into who we were, defining who we are. I have heard them referred to as wrinkles in the brain.
Some people can suppress an emotion and memory long enough for it to recede deep in their psyche. People do this with bad memories, understandably. Sometimes people numb themselves to these recollections of unpleasant occurrences, even unpleasant time frames… Many people remained so focused on the road before they neglected to drop morsels along the way. Even others were dropping morsels which were bad when dropped, spoiled like food off a floor.
When we consider memory, it is important to be aware memory defines who we think we were…and are. Unfortunately, it can make us define others around us in a negative perspective as well as a positive.
So treasure your memories. Certain maladies can rob us of them, whether we like or not. We have all known someone suffering with or suffered from Alzheimer’s.
To finish positive and strong below is a list of possible triggers. As you read them, close your eyes, take a deep breath, pass your coffee cup under your nose to awaken the sense of smell, then reflect. Perhaps one or more may brush against one of your morsels. I hope so, even pray so. Leave your memory trigger in the comments and go drop a morsel, either for yourself or for a youngster to pick up later.
We all have a “Remember When.” Here are some of mine:
Smell of fresh cut grass
The smell of rain coming.
Crickets chirping at night (Cicadas are more vivid a memory)
Smell of bacon cooking in the morning with the sound of pots and pans clanging in the kitchen.
Sleeping with windows open and a box fan
The smell of blue mimeograph Ink
JakeBrake in the distance
Hearing a late night train horn or whistle
The smell of a gas station
The smell of hot asphalt
The smell of a freshly plowed peanut field
The crackling and smell of a campfire
The heat of the high sun in the summer
Doorbell rings, door knockers and clock chimes
Smells from a fair
Carnival music
The sound of a car rolling over gravel
The stillness of predawn day.
The smell and sound of an outboard motor on water.
The sound of sneakers on a gym floor.
Don’t forget the smell the roses.
