Thursday, November 20, 2008

Memory Triggers


Isn't it interesting what will trigger a memory? I have had one this morning and thought I'd tell you about it.
But first I thought I'd show you who 'spended the night' last night with his Memaw. Superhero is supposed to get school pictures made today, so I took this one so his mother would know he looked good when I left him this morning. And don't pay attention to the things on the couch. Daughter #1 has already commented about the clutter.
Back to my memory trigger.

I have been making crockpot dressing for several years--seven or eight. I use this one recipe that is in a Rural Arkansas magazine. I was a Rural electric customer for several years and thought this magazine to be one I had gotten over that period of time.

I brought the magazine to work to type it into an email for a friend, and just happened to look at the date(wondering just how long I had it). The date was December 2000.

But that wasn't the strangest thing or did that in itself trigger a memory. It was the name and address of the person on the front.

First, it was the name of a young man I worked with at the time, which is the puzzle. How or why did I get this magazine from him?

I immediately went down the hall to the other gal that I worked with at the time. We had a good laugh. She couldn't imagine why I would have something with his name on it either. Needless to say, we talked about him and wondered where he is or what he's doing.
He was our famous Coon Hunter, and even took some of the guys in the office on a coon hunt. He raised champion coon dogs, and was always going off somewhere to a competition. It wasn't unusual for him to come in the morning with no sleep because his dog had treed and wouldn't leave, or he would lose the dog and spend hours looking for it.

This young man was young enough to be my son. But even though I was the old woman in the group, he was very good to me and treated me as an equal. His name is Ryan, and he will always hold a special place in my heart.

Who has come to your mind lately that you haven't thought about in a long time? Someone you haven't see or heard from or may never hear from again. People come and go in our lives. Some burrow deep into your heart, then move on. They don't leave a scar on your heart when they leave, just a soft spot.

Hope you are having a great Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

4 comments:

Laura ~Peach~ said...

i have a couple who come to my mind on a regular basis and i never stop long enough to figure out what set the memory off but I WANT that recipie!!! it sounds so like something that would fit in prefectly with my cooking schedule! :) PLEASE!

Anonymous said...

I'm always wondering about memory triggers-like when you dream about someone you haven't seen in years.

Marge said...

First things first. Like Laura, I would like that recipe too!

Secondly, I actually saw someone last weekend that set off a whole bunch of childhood memories. At a funeral of a mutual friend's wife, I was thrilled to see my childhood friend, a gal who I went to school with from first through eighth grades. And this was special, because we attended a small one room grade school in rural Iowa, and there were only three of us girls in our class, from first through eighth grades! We didn't have a chance to visit long, but the memories from 50 years ago have been running through my head ever since. Good memories.

Lisa said...

So funny you would write about this. Just the other day I was thinking about a student that I had taught in DARE and then again in college. She was just one of those girls that I connected with, took her to lunch and we would visit. She was a wonderful young person much older and wiser than her years. I just had a very special place in my heart for her. I had tried to find her, I knew she had moved to Texas a couple years ago and I just really missed her. You will never believe it but after thinking about her in the past week or so I got a text message at 11:30 p.m. I was actually alseep on the sofa as I often do and when I read my message it said, Lisa this is Stacy and if this is still your phone number would you please get ahold of me. I text her back and said yes, it was still my number and when could I call, she said anytime. So nothing like the present. I called and we talked till 1:00 a.m. She has had a baby girl three months ago and we just chatted up a storm. Next day we exchanged emails and then I went shopping for a baby gift. I am so happy to have her back in my life. Memories triggered...oh yes, and now it will be memories made.

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