My Practically Perfect Life

Oh memories. Memories are the only thing that prove you have lived. You don’t have to write a book, or have pictures or even tell a story to know you lived. The memories are there. Good memories, sad memories, gut wrenching and heart breaking memories. They are all there, tucked away in your mind. Some we forget and don’t want to, and some we try so hard to never remember.

I have grandparents and great grandparents that suffered from Alzheimers. There are a lot of ailments a person can have, but alzheimers has always been my biggest fear. I could go on not knowing where I am, or even what I had for dinner. I am already used to walking into a room and not knowing what I walked in for. But I cannot imagine losing my memories. Not remembering the people in my life. My kids, my husband, my family and friends. I don’t ever want to know what it would feel like to not remember watching the sun set in the mountains of Wyoming. Or looking over the most beautiful ocean water in Cuba. I never want to forget when my kids were born and their tiny smiles, or the look on my husbands face as I walked down the aisle.

It’s easy to say I hope I forget certain things. I mean of anyone out there I can tell you there are tons of things that have happened in my life I would like to forget. But I have to keep telling myself that these memories are good. I mean they are bad but they serve a good purpose. Memories teach you lessons. They cause a chain effect of making better choices. Bad memories can remind you why you don’t want to do the same things you previously did. Or be around certain people, or whatever the case may be.

One thing about memories, is you can never replace them. You can change everything about your life. Where you live, whom you live with, your job, your hair color and even your personality. But you can never change the past. You can never replace the memories, even when you make new ones. Your mind is like a box that can never be filled.

Memory is defined : The faculty in which the mind stores and remembers information. There are different types of memories. Sensory, short term, long term, declarative and procedural. Each type of memory serves a different purpose. The human brain is an amazing thing, and for it to compartmentalize these memories is proof of how powerful your mind is. Now, what is the point of having so many different types of memories? Hell if I know. That’s a question for God, and scientists who study the inner working of the mind.

So my whole reason for writing about memories isn’t to say things you already know. But to write out why we have them and what to do with them. I currently am struggling with some old memories, bad ones, that I wish more than anything I could get rid of. But at the same time these memories, from the actions done, have put me in the place I am today. Trying to make a bad memory a good thing is like trying to dig a grave with a spoon. It is possible, but also messy, tiring, frustrating and will no doubt take longer than you want. But once that hole is dug, that memory re branded, life can take a turn. You can smile when thoughts that once hurt you stroll through your mind. You can breath easily when you think about moments that hurt you. When memories you don’t love pop up, you can stand tall and know that it’s just a memory, and you have transformed it to make your life better.

I guess my point is this. Don’t try to forget anything. Take power over that memory. Because that’s all that is left of your past. You can’t change what happened, good or bad, you can’t re live it exactly in the time it happened, but you can be the boss of your mind. You can decide how a memory will affect you. So I hope you choose happy. I hope you decide to smile even when it hurts. I hope you realize that a life lived is worth remembering. Cherish your memories because some day they could be gone.

Dr. Seuss said it best when he said “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory”