Not Very Memorable (A long post)

I have put several stories on this blog, of things that I remember from being a kid. Many of those things have to do with my Big Sis.

Problem is, Big Sis doesn't remember many of these events.

Why do I remember them so clearly? Why doesn't she?

I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard many songs. When I hear those songs again, I can picture that exact moment all over. I have vivid memories of childhood friends and things we did at school and at play. I can even remember some of the things I sat and thought about as a kid.

But do I have a really good memory?

I have never thought so. In fact, I have always been on the prowl for techniques to help me to improve my memory, because to me, my memory has always seemed weak. I've read many books on memory improvement.

I still use one technique for remembering shopping lists of things I need to stop off for, that I learned while watching an info-mercial from years ago about memory. It works.

And to buy groceries, I usually first make a list, and then I can just lose the list, because as I make the list, I picture myself pulling that item off the shelf in the store and putting it into the buggy. When I actually go buy groceries, I just go up and down the isles and get what's on the list because I've already pictured doing it. It doesn't make much of a difference whether I actually bring the list with me or not. Once I've written and pictured it, it's in my head. Then, once the shopping is done, I clear memory. Though I must admit I get a perverse thrill from checking items off a list while shopping. Am I perfect at it? Nope, but close enough.

I've never really had problems remembering numbers, they typically have a 'rhythm' to them, that apparently, only I can see, in my own twisted way. For example, Lovely Wife has better luck remembering numbers if she can make it sound like the rhythm of a telephone number, but for me, things like my checking account number and things of that nature tend to have a rhythm to them all their own. When she recites a number in the rhythm of a telephone number, it confuses me, because her rhythm doesn't match what's in my head. I have to translate what she says into 'my' rhythm to see if she's correct.

I know Lovely Wife's Social Security number, our checking account's tracking number and the account number itself, and also know the account numbers of many of our monthly bills. I know the credit card numbers, expiration dates, and security number for several of our credit cards. It's easier to memorize them than to keep having to pull them out when doing bills.

Weird.

I can't really explain it better than that, I can just literally picture in my mind the way numbers look to me. I can remember our phone number from childhood, and even my childhood buddy, Rocky's phone number. I haven't called either number in over 30 years, we've both long since moved, but I still can recite them. I can even recall some of the phone numbers in various places Lovely Wife and I have lived, though not all of them.

But many of the events of my childhood, I can recall in pretty good detail. As with most things that have strong emotional content, I can remember the feeling as I replay the mental movie of various things from my past.

When I was twelve, we moved from the small town of Vidalia, Louisiana to the much larger town of Monroe, Louisiana.

Leaving all of the kids I had gone to school with from first grade through the seventh grade, for some reason, etched them into my mind. I can still recall the names of and picture the faces of most of my childhood classmates. I remember that fraternal twins Dennis and Denise H.'s birthdays are the day after mine, and that Roger, a classmate up to about the fourth or fifth grade had his birthday one day before mine. As kids, our birthdays where 'bip, bip, bip', all in a row, and I always think of them on those days. Our birthdays were earlier this week as a matter of fact, and I think that's what prompted me to write this post. I haven't seen any of them in over twenty years.

Then, after living in Monroe for five years, and starting college (the first time) in fall of 1980, I was surprised to find several childhood classmates attending Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe. This shouldn't have been a surprise to me, it was the closest University to Vidalia, and therefore the most likely school for them to attend.

But although one or two of these former classmates remembered me, I was shocked to see the look of confusion on several other people I had gone from first through seventh grade with. They had absolutely no memory of me at all, and me reciting things we had once done together or talked about as kids only added to their confusion.

I've mentioned on this blog about how naive I was when I was younger, but when this reunion of childhood classmates happened, I distinctly remember being more intrigued with their response than hurt. I don't really expect to make a big impression on people, I'm not that conceited, but to have people that I went to school with for seven years totally not have any memory of me was, for me, the first inkling I had that I saw the world a bit different than many other people. What I call a 'light bulb moment'. Ding! I just realized something! I just realized that I see the world a bit different than other people do! It takes me a while longer than most people to make these kinds of mental leaps.

Something like that might be a big duh-huh for most people, but it takes a big push for me to have that kind of a paradigm shift.

So that all comes around and brings me back to what got me here in the first place: remembering childhood things that include Big Sis, and her not remembering them at all.

Do I really remember these things, or did I imagine it all?

Well, for one thing, I only write and post stuff I'm pretty darn sure of, so that's one point in my favor. But like I said earlier, I have never ever thought that I had a particularly good memory and I've had a life long goal to continuously improve it.

But when Big Sis doesn't remember the time Big Brother and I dug up first base and tricked her into stepping in it, I definitely stop and try to make sure I really remember that accurately. But in the end, I'm sure, because I remember Big Brother and I talking and laughing about that from time to time when we were adults.

Big Sis's lack of memory about some of these things is probably more normal, though.

Because if I as a person, and all the events of several childhood friend's interactions with me can be COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN by these childhood classmates, then Big Sis probably just forgot about some of these old things too.

It is strange though. At the age of 44, I have always thought my memory to be substandard, when in fact, it might be a bit better than normal.

Either way, my memory lets me have things to write out, for my own use as well as for this blog.

Besides, if my memory was like Big Sis's, all y'all would be getting a lot more pictures and a lot less stories.

And who knows, that might make for a better blog. But until I run out of stories to tell, y'all will just have to suffer through me telling them.

I do pretty much stink at remembering names though.