memories

All posts tagged memories

Uncorked Memories

Posted by pausesandclicks on 04/11/2018
Posted in: Military Life, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

I suppose the older one gets, the more we tend to look more often into the past rather than looking forward into the future.

I did a bit of that a few days ago.

For many years now my husband and I have saved our wine corks, carefully documenting on the cork the date we drank the wine, the location, and the names of the people we enjoyed it with.  Throughout the years those corks have found their way into a series of olive jars and bottles, and most recently, a demijohn, as the memories accumulated, a bottle at a time.

I did a bit of rearranging this past week and those jars ended up here, in stronger light than their previous location, which led me to the dumping of those corks and a spring cleaning for their glass receptacles.

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Time Capsules

Posted by pausesandclicks on 07/19/2017
Posted in: Military Life. Tagged: , , , , , , . 7 Comments

I’ve never outgrown my love of bulletin boards.  I had one in my room when I was growing up and I continue to hang them in my home to collect the things that come my way and catch my eye as I move through my life.

Refrigerators count too.  What ends up on them is a bit more transient, as they tend to collect things that I need to be reminded of in the near future so notes, etc. tend to go up and come down as events pass by.

The refrigerator in our new home has a wood front and isn’t magnetic. As a result, I  hung a magnetic board in my back hallway so I could continue to enjoy the magnets I’ve collected over the years.

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Visiting My Past

Posted by pausesandclicks on 10/06/2016
Posted in: art. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

I went home for my 40th high school reunion this past week but it wasn’t that gathering that brought me face to face with my past self.

The building I went to high school in is long gone so there were no “in person” trips down that particular memory lane. However, the university I attended is thriving so one day I spent a few hours wandering around the campus. The memories came fast and furious and nostalgia abounded.

Songs often bring back strong memories but in this room, the printmaking room, it was the smell that instantly made me feel like I was 18 years old again.  The minute I walked through the doors I remembered the exact feeling I had when I first entered it for a woodcut class in 1977. The exact same smells are still there.  The ghost of my former self lingers there, big time. I’m positive my 18-year-old butt sat on those very same stools.

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We’re All Really Just Time Travelers

Posted by pausesandclicks on 02/11/2016
Posted in: Military Life, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 11 Comments

Time has a way of shimmering for me these days.

Still in the midst of the transition from a husband being on active duty in military service for 35 years to “what comes next,” my days and months have a quality about them that is foreign to me.  What I knew of time, and my position in it, changed radically as we left our last duty station and saw the gate in the rear view mirror.

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When I was a child time stretched endlessly in front of me.  As a teenager it got in the way of what I imagined my life would become.  As a young mother there was never enough time, certainly not enough time to sleep.  When the boys became teenagers time started warping, going by entirely too quickly.  Now that I have grandchildren and my sons are all adults, time seems to be doubling back on me.  One minute it seems like just yesterday I was holding them as babes, the next minute I can barely remember the person I was when I was 25, 30 or 35.

The shimmer occurs as often as my eyesight fails me.  One moment I can focus on myself as a college student or a young Captain’s spouse, the next moment I pass by a mirror and wonder who that person is.

I just read a book titled “A Man Called Ove” and was intrigued with this passage about time:

“And time is a curious thing.  Most of us only live for the time that lies right ahead of us.  A few days, weeks, years.

One of the most painful moments in a person’s life probably comes with the insight that an age has been reached when there is more to look back on than ahead.

And when time no longer lies ahead of one, other things have to be lived for.

Memories, perhaps.

Afternoons in the sun with someone’s hand clutched in one’s own.  The fragrance of flower beds in fresh bloom.  Sundays in a cafe.  Grandchildren.”

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I’m not yet at the age that Ove is talking about but from what I know about time, I will suddenly find myself there.  One day I am 57.  The next I will be 85.

Time has a way of doing that….accelerating disproportionately as we get older.

I’ve already collected amazing memories for the day that time comes.

In the meantime, I hope to collect many, many more.