Monday, November 10, 2008

Notes from the edge of memory

Yesterday was the first Sunday in a while that I didn't take in the quiet of the morning to write a blog. Generally, I write most Sundays because there is time to think but there are days when there are so many things buzzing my head that I have trouble picking one. And then I don't write, mostly I read. Several people had emailed me after the last blog, Slacker had found the link to my old career guidance officer and everybody wanted to know if I was going to get in touch with her.

To go back to the early part of this year; I'd found two of the three girls that made up my high school Limers Quartet. It was lovely talking to those girls again and for a brief moment we reconnected and then the contact petered out due to the pressures of our respective lives. I still think about them and know that they will always be a part of the landscape of my life and the experiences that make me, well,me. The moment has passed; these people had been a huge part of my life for a season and reason, I found them again at a time when I was questioning myself. It was as though they had come back to remind me of things that I needed to be reminded of and then moved on again.

And that's the point really, sometimes the memory is all you need. To acknowledge the place people had and the role the played. So AA, to answer your question, I like returning to the experience of Claire and Hillary from time to time, but I won't be reaching out across the miles. Some things are better left to memory.

4 comments:

Gabriela said...

I think this is a very interesting way to see things. I guess sometimes we could ruin memories by putting them together with reality.
Have a great week!

Wuzdescene said...

I can't think of one person from my past .... that I'd like to get in touch with .... hmmmmm .... is that bad?

Coffeewallah said...

Gabriela, y tu.

"Scene, nope not bad, just shows that you're evolved enough to know how to let go.

Coffedude said...

I find that as I age, such memories become more vivid.They can be intoxicating but often bittersweet.

It can be unerving waking up in the middle of the night with the laughter of an old friend or the scent of an past lover bouncing around in my mind.

Much older folks seem to be able to recall minute details of the distant past better than young uns can remember last nights party (liekly other reasons for that LOL). Is there a scientific reason for this? Or is it that as our souls get closer to the end, the journey, the end and the beginning all become one and the same.

Too much goddamn philosophy for a rotten Monday afternoon. Going to finish my very large mug of Colombian coffee, check my Twitter account and plan for an early exit from the cubicle farm!