I know, I know, giraffe doesn’t start with M. Can’t resist today, though. Like many of you, I suspect, I was watching a giraffe with her brand-new baby (I missed the birth, but so it goes) when suddenly I remembered: I’m supposed to write a blog post today. Right. Yes.
Which got me thinking about that elusive thing called “memory.”
(Ponder that for a second, I’ll be right back, just need to look at that baby giraffe again. And see if s/he is standing yet. Baby giraffes are precocious.)
Almost. Not quite. OK, back to memory. It loses things we need; it clutches things we really don’t, like that one time that thing happened, and it was so embarrassing and you’d like to forget it but it loves to pop back into the old thinker right when you’re trying to go to sleep.
My own memory has always been a bit of a murky mess in some ways; relentlessly detailed in others. I don’t always remember people I’ve known; I have a friend who reminds me of things I’ve long forgotten, marked and inventoried. We joke she’s my historian.
(Why yes, I did just pop over to see the new giraffe again. Admit it. You did too.)
It’s strange that something lasting can be so ephemeral; so real yet unreal at the same time. It forms our basis as we learn from our mistakes and successes. It haunts us. It bathes us in remembered warmth.
(Nearly made it that time! April is standing between us and the camera. A couple inches to the right, April. We’re making memories here.)
Check out my full-length novels:
Aunty Ida’s Full-Service Mental Institution (by Invitation Only)
Aunty Ida’s Holey Amazing Sleeping Preparation (Not Doctor Recommended)
The Great Paradox and the Innies and Outies of Time Management.
And download Better Living Through GRAVY and Other Oddities, it’s free!
A Bit to Read 
I love giraffes because they are such unusual creatures. My kids got to feed some 3 years ago when we visited the Columbus, Ohio zoo. But I have not looked at the giraffe camera once.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You must! Your kids will love it, it’s so cute and awkward.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My memory is less about the details of the people who I’ve known, and more about the feelings I had in particular situations. I remember people, of course– not that dotty yet. But I seem to summarize experiences in my mind devoid of specifics now. Don’t know when that happened, but there you go.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it’s memory becoming more efficient and deciding what it is important. At least, I prefer to think of it as memory becoming more efficient 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person