Memory

I've been thinking lately about memory.  As I get older, my memory seems to get worse and worse.  I forget important things I am supposed to do, appointments I've made, things I'm supposed to pick up from the store, and even sometimes where I am going.  My wife gets very frustrated about it...and I don't blame her.  It is frustrating to me as well.  But that is not the type of memory I am thinking about this morning.

I'm thinking about our memory of the past.  I was looking through some old pictures yesterday and it brought back so many memories.  It's amazing how a single moment captured in an image can bring to mind an entire story.  It is also interesting how history has a tendency to repeat itself in many ways from generation to generation.

Yesterday, we moved the table in our kitchen just slightly, but in doing so we opened up a space by the window behind the table.  In this space is a heat register.  Jakob has decided that the spot on the floor right next to the register is his new favorite sitting spot.  This brings back memories of my youth when I would eat my breakfast while warming myself on the heat register in our dining room.  Such a small silly thing, but it brought a whole story into my mind of a day gone by.

Writing can do much the same thing for us.  When we read a poem or a story, it can bring to mind many of our own memories.  I think that is a large part of what makes a novel or a poem truly good.  It connects us with our own experience, our memory.  What pieces of writing do that for you?  I would love to hear some stories of moments in a novel or poem or other writing that inspired memories for you (either good or bad).  Share your thoughts and memories!

May the story rise up to meet you!