Memories
How important are our memories? How important is the
relationships that we build with the people who are closest to us in life and
how does it play a part in our memories? Can you recall your earliest memories
when you became self-aware of your environment, the relationship you had with
your parents and siblings?
I remember my Father teaching me how to dance, he told me
to stand on his feet and he would step back and forth and around guiding me as
the music played. I remember my mother taking me to the first day of elementary
school and how afraid I was when she left me. I remember playing kickball in
the yard with my five siblings and how much fun we had. I remember the birth of
my three sons, as well as the birth of my granddaughters. I remember taking my
sons to their first day of school. I remember the expression on their faces
when I took them to amusement park and the fun they were having as my husband
and I looked on. I remember when they took their first steps or lost their
first tooth. I remember my youngest son at three years old in front of the
classroom doing show and tell confidently as his classmates looked on.
These are all the wonderful memories I can look back on
now as I approach my late fifties and smile. It is a beautiful thing, memories.
Now, imagine yourself in the declining years of your
life, your grown children having lives of their own, you are alone, except for
the few friends you have and whatever activities you may have to keep you busy
as a senior citizen. You have adult grandchildren, yet they are busy with their
young lives. As a young man/woman you lived your life partying, traveling,
perhaps so totally engrossed in a career, you did not make time for your
family. Perhaps you were a drug addict to busy chasing your next fix, an alcoholic
who could not stop drinking. A parent
that was too busy living their own life to think about the responsibility of
raising children, a deadbeat father or mother and time passes by without one
thought to the future. Before you know it, the music slows down, your body ages
and slows down and your life is a series of lonely days and nights. You did not
establish a relationship with your children or grandchildren and you are alone
within four walls with just the echo of a Tv.
In that silence you have no wonderful or meaningful
memories to reflect on....
In the vitality of youth very seldom does a person think
about aging, that time in life where everything is behind them. If you are
fortunate and blessed with the understanding that the relationships you have to
the people close to you is the most important blessing you have, then every
memory you make with them will be memorialize in their thoughts as well as
yours.
I am reminded of a song by the Temptations it is
entitled.
"I’ve never been to me," the song is about an
old man who pulls aside a young man who reminds him of himself. He asks the man
solemnly to listen to him as he begins to tell him how he wasted his life
chasing empty self-serving dreams and a good time. He goes on to tell the young
man that he had a family that he never appreciated nor took the time to stay
settled with them and he missed out on everything that was important. He says,
"I’ve been all over the world, but I've never been to me."
It is a sad song, especially since I personally know
people in this situation.
You see, memories are so very important because when
you're older, you can look back on those memories of family, friends and they
will remind you what a wonderful life you had, the good experiences and the bad
because they all have culminated to make you the person you have become.
The recollection of those memories will sustain you when
you have those quiet moments as a senior citizen. It is not just the memories
you build for yourself that is important, but the memories you contribute to
others as well. When someone close passes away, once the mourning passes what
comforts you most is the memories of that person. It is the memories that keep
that person alive in your heart.
Memories are sometimes taken for granted; they are an
essential component to the human psyche. So while you're young, vibrant and
full of life, take time to make wonderful memories with the people in your
life, I can tell you personally, you won't regret it.
If you do not, you will have a lonely and sad life in
your senior years .
And Always remember to tell someone you love....I love
you.
