How do you remember things in your life? I’ve always found it to be a roundabout process to recall what year something happened. First I think what I was doing at that time and tie it back to a location – walking to the bus stop while reading (St. Louis, MO), riding my bike into town (Brewster, NY), or playing in a beautifully large backyard (Topeka, KS)? Once I pinpoint the location, I am able to identify what grades I must have been in: preschool (Pennsylvania), 1st/2nd/4th (Kansas), 3rd (China), 5th-7th (Missouri), 7th-10th (New York), 11th-14th & 16th (California), or 15th (England). I then need to think of what year it must have been based on what grade I was in. What a mess!
Similarly, when I recall what age I was when something happened, I think of the situation based on location, tie it back to a grade level, then calculate how old I was . I’m not sure why it’s such a lengthy process, but that’s always how I’ve drawn on memories in my life. It makes me wonder how other people who don’t move as much do it, since much of their memories would tie back to the same location. They seem to do it much better too!
Today someone put on 90’s music at work and one song came up that was of particular interest. Each song that I recognized put me back to a place and time in my life when I heard that song most prominently. Backstreet Boys took me back to the summers I spent in China with my cousins and extended family. Destiny’s Child took me back to the fun I had biking down a huge hill by my house in New York. TLC took me back to getting driven to swim practice at the YMCA over in Connecticut. Tupac took me back to the lounge I studied in my first year at UCLA (yeah, I learned of him later in life). I wouldn’t be able to place a year on when those songs came out, but I could definitely get close. Somehow other people seem to be able to remember just what year it was though.
I’ve never understood that ability and I wonder how I will remember things if I don’t continue moving around a lot. When everything merges into one physical space, what cues will I use to differentiate between time periods? The way I’ve put my life into context for over two decades would become irrelevant. I’m sure I would adapt, but at this moment I can’t fathom how. So I wonder, how do you do it?
