30 Days of Meme: Day 17 - Your favorite memory, in great detail

[mangofandango]

My favorite memory! As if there is only one? Do most people have a favorite memory?

Honestly, I think it would be a bit sad if there was one single happiest or most treasured moment in my life. I value many memories - some of them actually important, some of them far from it. When I cast around for a favorite memory, my mind throws up all kinds of things. Like, really - I assume this is random synaptic firing, but it ranges wildly from things I had forgotten about to things I will never forget about. You want a few of those random things?

.....

When I was little, on Christmas eve I would stow away a pair of socks in my bed, to make sure I could get up in the night and walk as quietly as possible, so I could sneak downstairs without anyone noticing. I'd go pee first, so that I had a good excuse to be down there, but then I would always slip into the living room for a minute. I didn't want to peek at presents or anything like that, I just wanted to stand there and bask in the magic - sparkling Christmas tree, stockings filled because Santa had already been there, the secrecy of it. I was terrified of night time for most of my childhood, but that night felt safe. The image that popped into my mind was of standing there, staring at the room and feeling shivery.


.....

The memory of Sophie being placed in my arms right after she was born. I was actually kind of terrified to hold her because I couldn't even hold myself up yet, and if I am remembering correctly I was still sort of perched on a birthing stool and I may have even told whoever handed her to me not to do it, because I was afraid I would drop her. But all that aside, the memory of her weight and her warmth and how slippery she was, and that she was real, oddly...it's a good memory that still makes me tear up.

......

I had kind of forgotten about this, but my brain took me here, so: one day when we lived in New Hampshire, Kelly and I went out to the backyard to sunbathe near the pond. We took books and snacks and laid on a blanket and it was awesome. After we had been there a while, a porcupine wandered into the yard. I find the timing particularly funny - we're out there without any clothes and a porcupine, of all creatures, decides to visit! Not that nudity is much different from clothes when it comes to porcupine protection, I imagine, but it *felt* more alarming. ;) But he stayed away and seemed very uninterested in us, so we just sat and watched him for a long time. This was actually an awesome afternoon. :)

.......

So yeah, that is just a drop in a very large bucket of things that came to mind when I asked my brain for memories. Having one "favorite memory" seems completely impossible. Maybe it's just me, but - for me - I treasure a million moments, and if I didn't I think life would mean a lot less.


Day 18 – Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 – Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 – This month, in great detail
Day 21 – Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 – Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 – A first, in great detail
Day 26 – Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 – Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 – Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 – Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 – One last moment, in great detail