We should keep talking about those “ancient things” that people tend to forget about. Just to keep the younger generation aware of them.  Initially, it was the Ides of March that made me think of this, but that was some other guy’s story.

Not mine at all. Not ours to tell…although that doesn’t mean it can’t be told.

These are the stories that we can share, the images that we can create in their minds if the photos don’t commemorate their existence. Thinks* like these:

• How the hospital almost named your dad, their grandfather, Patrick.
• Niagara Falls. In New Jersey.
• SuperImp.
• How you learned so much about the “date that will live in infamy.” – December, 7th 1941 aka Pearl Harbor Day and your sibling’s birthday.
• Our 1986 road trip when a clown…no, maybe not that.
• The ice and snow storms of the winter of1995.
• Exact time and day that each of our children were born.
• Epic snow forts, sledding down the backyard toward the river at our neighbor’s house and what happened when we put that old door over the fallen tree to create a snow ramp.
• Passing out waiting to sign into the pool in Tucson when you were 11 years old.
• The first time you saw the Grand Canyon.
• Your first computer and how the hard drive was 40MB and your uncle set you up with e-mail, even though you only knew about 5 other people on it back in 1987.
• The interview with 3 hiring managers, which was better for you, too since you had to get back to your job (you only had an hour for your lunch break.)
• What you were doing and where you were on 9/11/2001.
• How you spent your first day as newlyweds…touring The Arizona Memorial and having dinner with friends who had a 3 year old and a 3 month old.
• Why you cut your hair into a Dorothy Hamill hair cut when you were 9…
• What it felt like to have a surprise 16th birthday party.
• What you said when their dad proposed.
• How you got your nickname.

In my mind the memories are so vivid. They haven’t yet invented (for main stream use) the brain-memory-picture generator.  We still rely on stories of being there and sure, the cameras that captured the fun we had. Thank goodness that today we have access to easy-to-use cameras, right there on our phone – so much faster and easier than before.

Snap. Share it. Store it. Done.

There are so many things that can be, could be, will be forgotten. Unless we keep talking about them, over and over and over again. It can’t hurt to share the story, just one more time. Maybe they will get tired of the stories, or maybe, they will share them with their family and their children’s children. Maybe, one day we will be able to print out the memories and share them even more exactly…no Photoshop needed, they already know the details.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

PS *Thinks or things, but I like “thinks” better.