So Hal and I are off to France, the Swiss Alps and Germany for spring break. We are packing and continually saying, "Oh crap! I forgot...(fill in the blank)" We are tired, excited, nervous, and so much more. In the midst of the insanity, I find a bit of grounding in batch of corned beef and cabbage, expertly prepared by one of my favorite people, and I remember, as a child, smelling the same aroma at my grandmother's house and wondering what had died. We have such interesting memories from childhood... we hold onto the most random information while we forget the names of the new neighbors. We hold onto the injustices and triumphs of years past, and forget to revel in the beauty of today. And yet, those pesky memories hold tight...
I remember a poster I had as a child that was of the "Bear Country Jamboree"- a cute attraction at Disneyland, yet the stupid poster gave me nightmares... I can close my eyes and see it... all these years later, I hate that poster and I wonder how many nights I lost sleep being sure that creepy things were going to crawl out of that picture. Tonight, over the cabbage, my friend gave me a note in French... and 23 years after I had a French class, I read the thing and understood each word... and yet, today I forgot the PIN number on the ATM card I've used almost everyday for 6 years.
I wonder what I will remember 20 years from now of this time period... I hope I've cleared enough French from the brain vaults to have memories of tonight... the packing, the silliness, the "have a great time" phone calls... tonight is good; tonight shouldn't be forgotten... but I could live without memories of corned beef at Nana's... yuck.
No comments:
Post a Comment