Sunday, June 10, 2012

Memories

Memory is such a mysterious human power that most of us take for granted. I can dredge up memories from so many points of my life, yet other points are seemingly lost forever.

A minor note: I do not ever remember eating lunch during my high school years. I didn't skip the meal, I'm sure, I just have no recollection in the least of ever eating lunch during high school. I can't even picture the school cafeteria in my mind, yet I can picture every other detail of the school's layout. And still I can remember specific days, events, smells and feelings as far back as when I was four and five years old (I remember several specific lunches from when I was 4).

Such a mysterious power we have.

Harold Nelson — Memories — early XXth century

1 comment:

Annie said...

This illustration is wonderful for its detail and symbolism, like the hourglass overturned in the water, as time becomes transparent and unmeasured through the power of memory. My husband's sense of memory is also very specific, like you've described for you. My adult memories of time and place tend to blend. Many of my childhood memories are specific, though, and I can almost sense what I was wearing and who I was with, and what I was doing, as if I were experiencing them now.