Random Recollections

I've always found it fascinating that I can remember the details of an event that happened to me 10 years ago, but can not remember what I did 10 minutes ago.

I think memory loss runs in my family. I used to make fun of my mother when she couldn't remember the simplest things, telling her that her disk was full and she needed to change it out for an empty one. But she's told me stories about her past that she has remembered down to the very last detail. She can't, however, remember my age.

My grandmother is the same way, yet it's even more amazing because she's been around longer and has nearly twice as many memories. Buuuut, the second I get off the phone with her, she forgets whether or not I'm working the next evening and has to give me a call back to ask again.

I'm one of those types that will get up and walk into the kitchen, and on the way, I'll completely forget what it was that I wanted. By the time I make it back to the couch, I'll remember and have to get up again. Or a friend will invite me out to dinner or something, and MY GOD if I don't write it down, I'm going to forget immediately.

I tend to think that those memories from many years ago are so very valuable. So what if I forget to change the toilet paper roll for next time, or if I forget to buy coffee creamer while I'm at the grocery store (because I forgot to write it on the list when I realized I needed some)? I look at my brain as an extremely large storage space for memories. There are an infinite number of filing cabinets, arranged by rows and rows and stacked on top of each other, reaching up into forever. Each drawer has a label on it, such as "Kindergarten" or "Sixteenth Birthday."

I've decided to delve into some drawers contained in three main areas: Elementary School, High School and The College Years. This posting will be the first installment in the series. Most of these have never been published before, and are only known to me and maybe some family members. So consider yourselves lucky to be experiencing these incredibly confidential and unnecessarily-detailed glimpses into the life of Jean-Marie.


Elementary Years:
- My mom used to put bows in my hair, but I'd take them out on the bus in the morning, then put them back in before I got home at the end of the day. She eventually found out.
- The first bike I ever received was for my birthday one year. It was pink with seahorses and shells on it, and it was called the "Sea Princess." I hated it.
- My sister and I had to share a room when I was very young. One night when I was ill and my mother was sleeping with me, my sister tried climbing in the window, drunk as can be. My mom yanked up the blinds and instructed her to go around to the back door. There was a long discussion about it the next morning.
- Like any younger sibling, I thought my older sister was sooo cool. She was in high school when I was still "wittle wee," and I refer to that era now as being her "80s Glam" phase. I tried to copy her by wearing tight pants with oversized sweatshirts and 'borrowing' CDs from her room (e.g. Ace of Base, Real McCoy).
- I never got to have a Nintendo or Sega or any of the like, but I rocked it out with the rest of them on my Commodore 64.
- I had a mad crush on my seventh grade teacher, and constantly stayed after school to wash the boards for her. She drove me to my piano lesson once in her red Sunfire and Jan Arden's "Insensitive" came on the radio. Whenever I hear that song, I still think of that time.
- Everyone else wore Airwalk shoes, but I wore Nikes from Gabriel Brothers and jeans from Kmart.
- I had a crush on a fellow camper one summer when I was in Girl Scouts. She danced with me at a sock hop to Alanis Morissette singing "Head Over Feet," which had juuust come out at the time.
- I hardly ever played with Barbies or other dolls; I played with Hot Wheels cars. When I inherited my sister's Barbie Dreamhouse, I really only gave a shit about the Ferrari that came with it.

I was a cute but awfully awkward kid. Don't worry; that trend followed me all the way through high school and into college. Stay tuned.......