I have a strong and continuing desire to write my life story. Why? Because I want to make some sense of my life and also, to leave a legacy.
The problem I am having is that I can’t remember events in my life too clearly. I can’t even retrieve them out of my memory, and if I could, sometimes, was it true or distorted!
So, imagine my excitement when I read this advert in the newspaper:
COME TO THE MEMORY PARTY!
LEARN ABOUT YOUR MEMORY
(Cash Bar and free Nibbles)
That night I went to the address in the paper. It was a high-class neighborhood. I was glad I wore my suit. I knocked on the door and it opened as if by magic. I walked into a large room with many people milling around. A tall old man approached me with two cocktails.
“Would you like a drink?” he said, handing me a cocktail.
“Thank you, I thought you had a cash bar here?”
“The first one is complimentary,” he smiled.
I took a sip of my drink, it was strong but delicious!
“Let me introduce myself, my name is Autobio Memory aka Event Memory.”
“I’m Dave Wilson, glad to meet you.”
“Lets go over to the bar and have a chat.”
Now I’ll have to pay for my drinks, I thought. Maybe even pay for Autobio’s as well!
“So, Dave, you’re having problems remembering things for your life story.”
“How did you know that?”
“That’s usually the reason people come to these parties.”
I was looking around for the free nibbles.
The old gentleman smiled and said:
“You know if you could live your life over again, you could write things down as they happen!”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t have the strength to live it over again!”
“Well, Dave, I’m an expert in replaying the events in your life. Do you remember how and when you met your wife?”
“Oh yes, it was on a blind date and we met at a party my brother set up.”
I turned to the barkeep and ordered another drink. When I turned back to Autobio, another fella was standing there!
“Can you tell me what is 6×5?”
“Of course, it’s 30.”
My companion smiled, “You got the answer right away. I’m Fact Memory. I deal in the facts you have learned about the world.”
Another well-dressed man joined in the conversation.
“I’m Learning Memory. I’m the one who taught you how to orchestrate your motions to perform some behavior. Like you learned to dance or even talk.”
All of a sudden I was surrounded by many people!
“I’m Memory Cue. I make your memories come to the forefront via a cue. Memories don’t always come to mind on their own!”
I nodded.
“I’m Repressed Memories. I help people forget traumatic memories.”
I was starting to get dizzy!
“Hello, I’m Unreliable Memory. When you try to recall some event, a few highlights come to mind, but not everything. That’s where I come in. I reconstruct the rest of the memory, adding bits and pieces. This is how recalled events get distorted!”
“Hey buddy, you know me, I’m Memory Interference. When you learn new stuff it interferes with the older memories. So the old ones are harder to retrieve.”
I ran out the door and down the street. I finally stopped, out of breath. What was that all about? My mind went BLANK!
I decided then and there to forget about writing my life story! IT’S TOO HARD IF YOU CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING!
“Web of Guilt” by David Wise out now on Amazon Kindle
Ach! You bring up memory on a day I can hardly remember what I ate for breakfast.
I tried writing my life story. It was too depressing. Guess I didn’t focus enough on the good stuff!
I suppose we all remember the exciting bits and embellish on the boring bits. Ask yourself how you would like to be remembered and the important aspects of your life and your character come to the forefront. Maybe. I think. Try it!
I can’t remember what I was going to write here. It was right here a minute ago. Am I hearing right? Right. Maybe I should have left before I started to write whatever it was that I was going to write. Stop writing these kinds of things, Dave, I’m getting very confused…..Right?
Dave, interesting blog. I especially enjoyed how the party attendees were the clinical components of memory. You undoubtedly have heard of CRS and memory. It is an acronym. for can’t remember S–T!.
Don’t worry about recollection of things to write into your bio. Your handling of fiction supports any forgetfulness, and all life (at least in my view) needs embellishment. That’s why the tale of the gold fish has the finned friend becoming a whale
Best regards,
lp
I didn’t know you could still run,maybe your not as old as I remembered. You don’t have to worry about remembering things to write in your life story, just ask me and I will tell you what happened if I can remember! Your L.L.C. Jim