Potential Memories

03.15.2010

On my walk this morning, I was thinking about a conversation that I overheard yesterday between two men who were talking about their respective hometowns back in Texas. There was one thing that was mentioned that really stuck out for me and not because it’s some brand new concept that I’ve never considered, but, let’s just say, I sort of saw it from a slightly different angle.

The two men were talking about how whenever they go back to the towns in which they either grew up or in which they spent many years of their lives, the town had drastically changed from when they lived there. I’m sure most have experienced something similar where you go back to an area you knew well and it’s changed. The store you used to frequent is now a parking lot or the house in which you lived is now an apartment complex or a completely different house. This is the natural progression of things and no one is immune.

But this idea of going back and visiting a place from your childhood, for example, really stuck with me. My hometown isn’t too far from where I currently reside and, yet, the idea of going and visiting makes me nervous. I’ve been a few times since I moved from there in the late 70s, but it’s probably been over 10 or 15 years since I’ve gone back to visit. And that time was probably the first time since I left. But when I think about that place, the little apartment my mom was renting across the street from the park, I have incredibly fond memories. And this made me think about the possibility of creating fond memories for and with my own child.

This was a rare moment. I imagined having a child sit on my lap and to whom I read a bedtime story. Or holding his/her hand down the street as we tried to catch up to the butterfly that fluttered from one flower to the next. Or sitting on a park bench sharing a sandwich. These priceless moments can’t be manufactured or planned. These kinds of moments are spontaneous and become not only enriching, but help in defining one’s soul. Serving as a mere guide to the world as it exists now is reciprocated in a child’s eyes and imagination when he/she shares his/her insight with you. You can’t get this from another adult. And for a fleeting moment I caught a glimpse of a possible future of having all of those potential memories created. It would be nice to have new memories created with the same richness that I have of those days with my mom.