I always find it odd how an event can be so important, stuck in the front of someones mind, but another person who was there can barely recall the day. What made it so important to one and not the other?
I have a friend from high school who remembers this day we went to Chicago. We lived in the suburbs so it wasn't a big deal, but we were without parents a group of us all driving by this point. So in that respect it was memorable. We went to FAO Schwartz. Up to this point I remember it all. Apparently, we tried on hats and played on the piano that you walk on. I cannot recall this. There are even pictures of us in the crazy hats!!! I look at them and haven't the faintest recollection. She remembers this time as fun and I can't even remember putting on the hats. What made that day so memorable for her, but not for me?
I had a similar situation the other night. My husband and I had our good friends over. We have know them for about 6 years now. We have boys that are close in age. We were listening to 80's music and I had this memory. We had been at a Christmas party about 4 years back for the place where our hubbies worked. At the time we didn't really know each other very well, but a song was played at the party. It was "I think we're alone now" by Tiffany. My friend and I were singing the song and basically had the same "dance moves." I started talking about this while they were over last week (maybe the music brought back the memory). Anyway, they had no recollection of the event. Even my husband didn't know what I was talking about! I think for me that was the first bonding moment for us. I hadn't ever spent time with her even though our husbands were always together. It was the start of our friendship.
Memory works in mysterious ways...
Found you via Momalom... :)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean and I was thinking about this the other day when I was trying to come up with my post. My sister is constantly telling me my memory is wrong. :/
Memory is such a funny thing. An off hand comment someone makes to you could ring in you head for weeks but have been forgotten by them in the next breath.
ReplyDeleteWhenever my sister and I trade tales of our childhood I am always shocked at what I missed was going on for her and she for me. Even though we were both there at the same time.
I have a Tiffany memory for you. When I was in Grade 6 my mum and I went to a Tiffany concert. It was my first concert. We were 7th row centre. We stood on the chairs the whole time laughing and dancing. At one point my mum grabbed my arm and said she thought she was having a heart attack (it was the bass from the speakers).
She thinks the first concert we went to was Sting.
It's so funny what individuals remember from a collective memory :)
ReplyDeleteI get so angry with myself when a friend mentions something I cannot recall. And then I find myself willing the memory, making up details, believing in them. Who knows if they are true.
ReplyDeleteCollective memory is kind of like an experiment of the past. Who's details stand true, depending on who else remembers them? And when we find ourselves having no clue what our best friend is talking about? We sit and wonder why we don't remember, or whether they are right at all?