Final Thoughts Month of May: Blog 4- Letters from Mom & Mimi

Good Morning Ellie!

Poppy and I are returning home from a wonderful weekend spent in Cape May, N.J.  As he drives on this beautiful and somewhat chilly spring day, I get to type my blog entry for this week.  And thankfully, spending time with Jackie prompted my thoughts.  You see, we went to see a Medium, but unfortunately it did not work out due to some unforeseen reasons.  The Medium (a very interesting gentleman) asked us to reschedule, so we did for August.   Anyway I realized while having a glass of wine with Jackie later that evening, that chatting about the anticipation of seeing him, the tad bit of disappointment from an unsuccessful reading and the excitement of having another opportunity to try again has created another memory of a day in my life that I know would be fun to share at random times in the future!

Final Thoughts:  Make sure to share your important, unusual, silly, and yes quirky daily events with others by either voicing them aloud or documenting them to be read periodically!  Over time our memories can slip a bit El, so my best advice to you is to keep them fresh by sharing your stories.

Your Great Gram Russell is the perfect example of someone who can randomly add to any conversation some amazing stories from her early childhood all the way up to today’s date.  And Ellie, it doesn’t matter if she has shared bits of her life once or a dozen times, her stories are never tiring as they always bring on a desire to hear more!  You my dear little one already have a special gift of remembering your past, and with amazing clarity I might add!  And you are only 4 years of age! 

Example 1: You still have a great disdain for hotdogs and have shared the story repeatedly of the time when you were about 15 months old when your babysitter gave you one and you became very sick.   You actually had the flu Ellie, and as that old saying goes, “that poor old hotdog was in the wrong place at the wrong time!”  If anyone even mentions hotdog to you, you make a distorted face and strongly state, “NO!” 

Example 2:  Last week while taking you (I mean Kalena, as that was your character personality of the evening) to get your haircut, I asked you where you lived since I never had the chance to visit you or your family at your home.  You replied, “Well Miss Mickey, I live where we saw the gingerbread man, the snowman, the reindeer and Santa Claus.”  Not following your thought process at all I responded with, “What????”  You calmly and with full knowledge replied, “Miss Mickey, I live where the train and the park are.”  Dumbfounded I answered, “Do you mean the town of  Bellefonte???”  And of course you confidently responded, “Yes, that is exactly where I live.”  When I reported this little story to your Mommy, she was in ‘awe.’  And that is because you have never been to Kalena’s house.  Apparently though about a year ago you met them for a play date at Talleyrand Park (and the Polar Express Train that we took you and Will on during the Christmas season hosting all the above characters travels right beside the park), which is… yep, you guessed it… in Bellefonte! 

Example 3:  Last week when your Mommy took you to a play date at your friend Teyo’s house, you noticed that he had a lightsaber.  Upon close examination, you stated that he must have gotten it at the Spikes baseball game the night they had “free give-away’s in honor of Star Wars.”  Ellie, that baseball game also happened a year ago, something most 4 year olds would not remember happening at 3 years of age! 

Example 4:  Apparently on a recent trip to the Mall you informed your Mom about a time when you and I were there and there was a water leak.  Not having any clue as to what you were talking about, she asked me.  I also didn’t have a clue El.  I was drawing a blank (go figure).  Then, she asked you to explain a bit more and you told her that the water leak was between JC Penny and The Gap.  It took a few minutes to register, and when it did Ellie, I was astonished!  You see, that incident also happened well over a year ago.  You and I were walking from The Gap to JC Penny when we passed a 6-foot section in the main corridor that had been roped off due to a small hole in the floor where water had bubbled up and formed a puddle.  It had created a bit of a mess and the yellow tape prevented people from getting too close and possibly slipping.  …  Who remembers stuff like that???  You of course!  These examples are only a few Ellie of the many you have shared with us.  I could go on and on, but something tells me that you are like a computer.  As you grow older, you will probably be able to ‘click’ on a memory and share it as though it just happened yesterday.

Now if you asked me about something that happened in my life over 50+ years ago, well, I am not sure what my problem is, but I have a terrible time remembering events from just last week let alone my childhood (and that’s the way it has always been with me Ellie from my youth till now!).  Anyway, your Aunt Sheri will share a story now and then that pertained to her, your Uncle Stevie and me when we were kids and I will think to myself, “Huh, was I really there because that story is not registering in my brain at all!”  A friend at work tried reassuring me once (probably more often but I honestly don’t remember) that it has nothing to do with my long term memory being vacant, she also said my short term memory can be just as bad!  Humph… I think it is because I never realized the importance of categorizing information and ‘locking it in!’  But ever since you were born, I have been trying harder… hence the blogs!

Ellie, when it comes to remember past moments in your life with great detail it would not surprise me at all if you were identified with having an eidetic memory.   That means to have the ability to recall images, sounds or objects in memory with great precision.  If this turns out to be true, use it wisely.  And if not, start voicing and penning daily life’s events.  You, your children, your grandchildren and so on will appreciate the memories and the stories!  As Daniel Wilson once stated, “Memories eventually fade, but words hang around forever!”

I love you Little Miss Hard-drive!

Mimi