Memory is not fair
It is so selective
I can remember way too many useless instances
Like the time the music teacher hurt my feelings in fourth grade
My childhood phone number and the tune the keys played when we typed it into the wall phone keypad
What t-shirt I wore for my 2nd grade school photo
The first and last name of every kid in my kindergarten through 6th grade class (when prompted by photos)
(Which isn’t completely useless actually, but not extremely useful thus far in life either)
But yesterday I got home from running a few errands
And my 12 year old boy came running up to my car door
And as we chatted
He said the best funny
It was a joke that got me so bad
It was total ad lib, off the cuff, just him being his quick witted humorous self
And as I hugged him, laughed, grabbed all my paraphernalia
And asked him to get the five dozen egg carton
I thought: ‘I am going to draw that in a comic later’
Simultaneously thinking I would no way forget it
Even though I know better
I trusted my memory
I made that errant decision…
And now
I cannot for the life of me recall what he said
Not even remotely what it was about
No matter how much I throw the internal fit
I go back in my mind and retrace my steps to when I was in the car and everything that was happening in that moment
I beg and plead with my mind
I am to the point I would give my right hand for that memory
(Except then I’d have to learn to draw left handed)
And it refuses to be remembered
So I decided to follow the advice I give to others
I went on my phone and I saved the ‘submit your story’ page from Chattersticks to my home screen
And I will be tapping on that link and submitting my stories immediately as they happen or very soon after
So memories of my kids don’t get lost either
You all would have loved his joke too, if only
So don’t hesitate
Send the stories before they get lost in the shuffle of the mundane!