What Memory?

When I was younger I had a great memory. I could remember where my mom parked the car, I could remember long lists for the grocery store and as I got older, if my teacher gave us the information on what a test would cover, I could memorize all of it and ace the test. After school I became an avid reader and I could remember most of every book I read. I took in massive amounts of information, not all of it necessary and there was my downfall.

You see I have a theory about memory. I don’t believe that we use just 10% of our brain capacity, I believe the 90% we aren’t actively using to compute and think is storing information. That’s right, a giant memory disc. Now here comes the problem. There is a finite amount of space. Sooner or later the disc gets full. And then what, you say?

Well here comes the next part of my theory. I have spent years watching movies and gathering basically useless information. Don’t get me wrong, not all of it has been useless, but a good portion of my information intake has been pointless and entertaining to the say least. We live in an information age and I have drunk deep at the well. I have used up all my space. Yep, I’m full. So now when I try to put something new into the information database of my brain, something has to give.

I believe one of two things will happen. Option One: I try to put in some new information, say a phone number, an important task I need to accomplish Today or the name of a new acquaintance and what happens? There is no room, it doesn’t stick and passes right on through to the information junk yard in the sky. Bye bye. Option Two: I retain the information, but something has to be bumped out to make room for it. This is usually something equally important and I will miss it later.

All that being said, I have been very lucky. Lots of the information I have lost is unimportant. My husband and I will start to watch a movie and ten minutes later, yes ten, one of us will say, “Hey, haven’t we seen this before?” “Why yes, I believe we have, but I can’t remember the ending” Lucky for me, the endings of lots of movies, books and stories folks have told me got bumped and not the beginnings, otherwise I would watch the whole movie just to realize I know the ending right before it happens. Now I get to watch, read and listen to my favorites and not so favorites all over again. Another lucky break, I seem to have bumped the portion of my memory that holds the information on who I have told stories to. I get to tell my stories over and over again and never really know I am annoying countless people. that’s lucky. Sadly, numerous names of people I know have been lost, but gratefully not their faces. So I can look at them when I see them and know I know them, I just can’t address them by their given name. I just say politely, “How are YOU doing?” YOU get the picture.

As you get a little older and your memory banks start to fill up, don’t despair about what you may have lost, just look at it as an adventure you get to have over and over again. The great thing is, you’ll never know. YOU understand.

Lunch with Friends

I had lunch yesterday with two friends I hadn’t seen in almost a year. It was wonderful. We ate, we caught up on some of the details of our lives, we laughed and remembered. I worked for years with these two and was reminded of how much I missed the comradery of their presence. I was struck by how lucky I was to spend a few years of my life, working, playing and serving the Lord with these two people I really respect, honor and cherish.

One characteristic of our relationships that really stood out to me or maybe I didn’t take it for granted this time, was the value of people who know you well, accept you for who you are and appreciate your uniqueness and in turn, I accept and value them. I really do. It is also comforting to spend time with people who have traveled enough of life’s road with you that you don’t have to explain things like why your husband knows you mean it when you yell “fire” (and you had to again) and they can laugh when you say “I am thinking of painting the pig again” Not secrets, just old news. And vice versa. There is something so easy about not having to explain yourself.

My challenge to you would be to call/email someone you haven’t seen in a while, possibly years. Connect with someone, connect with your past and count your blessings. Some of the best things in life are things you have already built.

Hidden Treasures

I have been decluttering for a few years now. It’s a process that needs to be taken seriously and with care, thus it will probably take me the a few more months to complete. You can’t rush this. Believe me, I might have tried once.

It really started when a friend of mine told me that she had gone through her closet and gotten rid of everything she hadn’t worn in the last year. Then she took it a step further and said that each time she bought something new, she got rid of something. Her wardrobe only consisted of the things she really needed and wore. Wow, what a concept. I tried it. I liked it, I never ran out of room in my closet and I usually liked what I had to wear. (There is nothing you can do on those fat days but complain, so those days don’t even go into the statistics for good and bad days, thrown out as faulty data)

The kitchen was next as I got rid of cookbooks I’ll never use, pans I didn’t even know how to use and old stuff that you lost all the other parts for and keep it because, well, you tell me why we keep it, I couldn’t figure it out. On to the bathroom cupboard. Mission Accomplished… for a year. Alas, I need to do it again.

Last summer I went through everything, I mean everything in the garage and threw all kinds of stuff I really didn’t need away. Including books. Now anyone who knows me well has just gasped. I don’t throw away books, because, well, they’re books. Great logic eh? I also can be very sentimental and have a tendency to hang on to things for the memories they hold. These things could possibly be old, broken and hidden in a box for the last ten years, but don’t tell me to throw it away. I have to be in the right mood to do this kind of decluttering. Hence, the longevity of the process.

Now I have bought a bunch of large plastic containers and I am repacking all the Christmas stuff and going through all the old papers and keepsakes I own. I am having a blast. Hidden treasure in my closet, basement and crawlspace! Letters from the past, gifts from my children, the bittersweet memories an old address book can bring. I found an old cell phone that was bigger than my television remote control, a letter to santa, photos I really should shred, teeth from the tooth fairy, the papers for my oldest dog, (he’s older than I thougth), notes from friends and artwork covering years of childhood, some of it faded from being on the refrigerator. I love the artwork. I have decided to bring some of it out of retirement and frame it and hang it. Why not? I still love it. It has value to me, which makes it a treasure. So, I may be taking the long way around this decluttering business, but remember, Not all who wander are lost, just wandering. I am taking a trip down memory lane. Slowly.

A challenge: Go find the hidden treasure in your house. Tell me what you find.

Happy New Year!?

I appreciate the thought of “Happy New Year”, but I do have to say, it may be more than I can handle. How about “Happy New Day”? Sometimes I can handle one day at a time. Or how about “Happy Moments”? That definitely seems more doable, don’t you think? It is for me. My resolution for the New Year is to take one moment at a time and do the best I can with that. I need to break it down to something simple. The older I get I have found the best laid plans are just that, plans. The dictionary describes a plan as: A proposed or tentative project or course of action; a scheme, program, or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of an objective.

“Worked out beforehand” How many times has this happened to you; you plan for something, and something different happens? Good or bad, it was different that you expected. You didn’t plan for that. I have found that being prepared is one thing, working it out is another. You can prepare for a raise in pay, but you can’t spend it until you get it. You can prepare for a winter storm, but you are stuck inside when it happens. You can prepare for the birth of a baby, but you can’t hold them until they are born. You can prepare for a death in the family, you can’t really grieve until it happens. And a life where “not all goes as planned” is a life filled with faith. Faith that God has it under control, because you don’t. Faith that even in the darkness, light will shine. Faith that when you can’t hear God, He is there. Faith that God has “worked it out beforehand”

Jeremiah 29:11-14 states:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
He is a big God, a pure God, a loving God, a just God. That’s who I need running my life. I am not that good, not even close. I really mess things up on my own. I mess them up even when I’m trying to listen to God.

Isaiah 55:8
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
Thank goodness for that. God is God and I am not. Actually, when I’m honest, that is really comforting. I don’t have to have it all together. Just listen to the One who does. And if I’m really honest, it’s all I can do just to listen. I am not a good listener most the time.

My prayer for the New Year is that the Lord draws me closer to Him in every circumstance this year, each day, and each instant. I pray that I draw close to Him. That I take time in His Word every day to hand out with Him, worship Him and listen to Him. Really listen. And when I mess up and I will, every day, that I remember to draw closer to Him. Leave my self reproach and pride behind me, turn to the Lord and listen all over again. And when I can’t hear Him, know that He is there. I can only do that on a moment by moment basis. One moment at a time please. As I grow closer to Jesus, He will be the one that will prepare me for the stuff that happens and He will be the One I will hold on to. I pray you draw closer to Our Lord this year, minute by minute. Happy New Year Moments everyone.