Memories

Sometime ago I did a post on memory, this time I want to focus on memories or things as they were. The Facebook application has a concept called throw back. It’s mostly used for pictures taken a while ago. At first I dismissed that whole idea but now I see the value of it. It’s not denial or wishful thinking, I see it as acknowledgment. I think it’s important to remember things (good and bad) as they were. That’s acknowledgement. But realistically it’s mostly good things we remember. Did you ever listen to the lyrics from the theme song that was used by Barbra Streisand in the movie The Way We Were? One of the lines is “memories may be beautiful and yet what’s too painful to remember, we simply to choose to forget.” I would put that in the category of priceless. I’ve said before that there are no pictures of me when I first had the stroke or was at the hospital. (That’s a memory that I don’t need to keep!)

Occasionally I remember my dreams. Recently I had a dream where I did not like the ending. The ending was not negative (actually it was a happy ending) but not realistic like those flying car dreams. I used my memory to change the outcome. It was about shoes and you know I love shoes! I just wanted it to end differently.

As a stroke survivor, I totally get that I will not be the same as I was before the stroke. I think it’s important to acknowledge things. Osiris says “You’re not the same individual you were a year ago, a month ago, or a week ago. You are always growing. Experiences don’t stop. That’s life.” I know the whole thing for me is a fine line about living in the past but I think it’s important to recognize the things that have occurred and have shaped me. I think it’s a great thing to have memories of the past. My heart goes out to people with Alzheimer’s or dementia and what they remember. I value the memories I have. It helps to acknowledge things and people.

I had my stroke when I was 49. I think that’s young to have a stroke. The source of my stroke was an AVM, mine was congenital. I had it at birth. When I think about it having an AVM (before it burst) for 49 years, I think that’s amazing! That’s one of the the main reasons I try to remember and acknowledge things from the past. The past becomes an important part of the future. What if it isn’t a good memory? I have a friend who says “forget the memory but remember the lesson”. Matt had saved the cards that I received when I had the stroke and gave them to my mother who made me a scrap book. I keep that book and just re-looked at it all. How fabulous to know that we are loved so much. That is a great memory!

In the TV show ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ there was a perfect example recently. Last year one of the characters (Lee Thompson Young who played Barry Frost) died in real life. They had filmed the whole season so they did a funeral and a tribute on the second episode of this season (Season 5).  Angie Harmon who plays his partner on the show (Jane Rizzoli) did the eulogy at his funeral. She said “death may have taken Barry, but it can’t take our memories of him, those wonderful and perfect and beautiful memories. Those, thank God, are ours to keep.”

As the song says “memories, light the corners of my mind”