The Time Machine

Turning 60 makes you reflect a bit on your life. As a person who is turning sixty on Sunday, I have been reflecting a bit (a lot). I’ve had so many fun times, met amazing people, and have traveled and learned and created. All those memories stay within me and make me incredibly happy. But I also feel these moments that have meant so much to me, need to be captured like a photograph. How does one take a picture of a memory? Pictures themselves spark memory but don’t capture the nuances of what that moment felt like, what happened before and after the picture, what kinds of smells were in the air, or the energy of the experience. But writing can capture all of that. It’s like a photograph of your memory.

But what if you don’t write those memories down? Where do they go? They can live within your mind, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Like time machines, they allow us to move back and forward in time, to keep us company throughout the difficult moments of our lives; a movie playing to entertain us. All the amazing things we’ve done and the people we’ve met exist there, within those moments, continuing their journey through our memory. But wouldn’t it be best to write them down, too? That way, they could live in two places because without writing them down, those moments exist only in that one place. Within the time machine.

Then what happens when/if those memories disappear?

My mother has vascular dementia. To put it very simply and probably not accurately enough: a series of little strokes are taking away her memory and other functions. This creates a world where only the ‘right now’ exists. No time machine. No photographs. Just dark. And just whoever is standing in front of her at the moment. How would that be for you? I read something on the internet that says, “Our memories are what shapes who we are.” Yes. Absolutely. But without those memories, who would we be? I’d like to put out a writing prompt for today. That will hopefully get the juices flowing to help you begin writing your memoirs.

Writing Prompt: What event, or series of events, do you frequently remember as being life-changing for you? (Good or bad, happy or sad, it shaped who you are right now.) Would you have done anything differently if you knew then what you know now?

Through Mom’s failing memory we have a tremendous gift from her. She knew she would get to a point in her life when she couldn’t remember all of the things. So, she took a memoir writing class and created so many incredible stories. I helped a bit to get it published so now her memories can (and have) traveled around the globe and have influenced and inspired many. Thank you, Mom, for the gift of your time machine.