There will be pivotal memories in life that are so vivid and clear in your mind. Some of those memories might be from your childhood. Your youth. Maybe your college years. It could be so long ago, but something you may bring up often or reminisce about. And then there are things we call regrets. Or shoulds. Or “I wish I”. Or I think of things I thought were going to play out differently. Do you know what I mean?
summer 1972 – I actually remember this moment baking with my mom…sitting on the kitchen counter.
For instance, I thought I would have a gaggle of college friends that I gathered with year after year. Maybe spent summer vacations with or winter holidays. But it didn’t work out like that. And sometimes I beat myself up wondering what did I do wrong? But I didn’t. Life just played out differently.
I need to reflect at the people that have come into my life since then. The people who have made my life better. The people who have been friends through different seasons. Those are the memories I created and continue to create. Those are the things in the now that I will remember five, ten, twenty years from now.
And what about the memories we are making right now. The stories we will tell to our grandchildren, or nieces and nephews about when their mom and dad were younger and the crazy things they did.
That is the thing with memories. You don’t know when you’re really making one. Oh sure… we see all the things on Pinterest and read all the blogs that tell us to “make a memory”. And yes, I think you can facilitate that. But what REALLY makes a memory in your mind? Is it something you conjured up because you dictated a scenario? That my friends is a recipe for disappointment.
Maybe it occurs when you allow yourself to truly be. Be in the moment. Enjoying the present. I really don’t know. I don’t have an answer.
