This week’s prompt is ‘memory’
What is memory? It’s something we all have and we all like to exercise.
Some people treasure their memories because they live in them so much.
Others want to forget and expunge memory from their minds.
For some of my life I lived in a ‘remember when’ sort of family. It was remarked upon once and I’ve never forgotten the remark.
At first I was chuffed that such a label could be put upon us and then later, some years later I realised how destructive living in the past can be.
To do so often stymies moving forward. Sometimes the memories are so vivid and such a part of your life that to move forward will mean giving up on some memory as if it didn’t matter any more and for some folk their memories are who they are.
It does come in handy when you speak to your children about what it was like when you grew up.
“What was it like in the olden days? I was once asked. To my horror I must admit, as I never considered myself to be old. More like from another age.
I remember once there was a task in a class I was teaching about what made you the person you are and most of the students wrote about the life they had, their connections with family and their ambitions for the future.
When it was my turn they were fascinated to learn about my life as a teenager, how ‘deprived’ they thought I was as there was no technology, as they know it, the phone was on the street corner, we read newspapers and listened to the radio.
Your friends were the people you went to school with and your entire social life centred around the school and the street you lived in. Not everybody had a car and public transport was the only was to go.
Memory has afford me with a plethora of story, a bank of experiences that I can draw on from time to time and hopefully continue to embellish.
Written for: http://lindaghill.com/2014/10/31/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-november-114/
Morpethroad 
There’s a big difference between having memories and wishing they weren’t just. Thanks for this thought-provoking post, Michael. 🙂
My pleasure Linda, great prompt to write on today.
Thank you. 🙂
Great points; on the one hand, being able to recall the past can be a great gift to share with others, yet living in the past only holds us back. Thanks for reminding us of that distinction; I sometimes find myself longing for the past yet glossing over the challenges I had then, too — and as you said, that won’t help in moving forward. Wonderful post.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.
My grandchildren look at me as if I’m from another planet when I talk about no phones, B & W television, wireless (which weren’t), no such thing as computers, iPods, tablets (that’s what you took when you were sick), and worst of all, non-flushable toilets 😮
Memories are good; even not so pleasant ones if you’re willing to use them to help others.
Don’t you just love that look on their faces. Thanks Lyn.
I notice when I try a “when I was your age” ramble, the eye rolling is enough to get me back in line. Nice post.
Thanks John yes that line doesn’t work so well. I use the line ‘when we were kids’.
Good one.
A “remember when sort of family,” I like that. I think the problem with nostalgia is that we can live our lives in the past or it can be a way of running away from our present lives. A giving up on a positive future. And younger people often seem to think of older people as really very old. But I wish I had asked my parents and grandparents more questions about their lives because now they are all gone and no one in my family has the answers.
Thanks Deborah that’s an excellent comment. Fortunately I did ask my father a lot of questions but there is still stuff I wish I’d asked. I often found he never thought a lot about his past as if there were significant things in it. There was a reluctance to talk about some things, like his war experiences. But I do have some insights and I’m pleased for what I do know. Have a good day.
Hi Michael. I often think that people don’t have enough adventures since we are so obsessed with technology. I’d love to visit a place of safer streets, families that talked, laughed, played, danced and sang, more than being glued to a screen. I really enjoyed your post. Thank you, LHN.
Thanks LHN for stopping by. You make a very valid point in your comment, I agree with you.