Throughout life seniors have had so much to deal with, and now find there is an array of stimuli that stab the body and memory bank with indelible marks that won’t go away. They linger in life like willow buds in a breeze along the river of ages, young and older. No matter, as age sets in, these marks can’t be erased or cleansed with a solution of alcohol and beer nuts.
Sleep brings nightmares, traveling just drags these nightmares along behind like cans strung to a wedding car, walking or running just activates these recollections like the sweat on the brow leaking into teary eyes for the good and bad of it all. People, places and things of any color or point on the compass arouse thoughts and alarms that may return in solid forms. The fear that the past may pollute the good times of the present, or worse, the future, is a common ailment called anxiety.
The human mind is not like a computer where the memory can be erased or changed to a more convenient or suitable configuration to deal with the present state of affairs, first-class or awful. The state of affairs can change with the input from people, places, or things of any type.
People can come in many forms: friends, relatives, strangers, or images on the TV or in a photo album. Most of these forms can elicit many moods and life-changing plans from tears to plots of murder. Friends, relatives, and maybe a few strangers can be invited to a barbeque in the back yard. Even photos may have phone numbers to call. But TV images, well, you will just have to “Leave it to Beaver” for concocting a plan to meet them. A successful murder plot can dictate and ruin any future you may have. Forget it.
Places can be anywhere from over the rainbow when you met your first love, or the dark alley where you and your friends had your first beers bought by a transient hobo who just wanted one out of the six-pack for his troubles. Or even the sunset seen from the Pacific Ocean beach on a camping trip, or that stage where you tooted your first notes with the school band on your saxophone. Anywhere you’ve been tallies up this list beyond the total recall collections storage box capacity, and my, how it gets larger the more someone thinks about it. Even where you are now will count for something in the future.
Things. Wow, what a gamut of possibilities! Boxes, drawers and closets full of trinkets, toys, serious paraphernalia, and things that should have disappeared from non-use years ago – like the keys to your first car, that old Chevy, that saxophone with the missing keys, a model boat made in shop in high school. And then the important things like a silver dollar won in a slot machine in Las Vegas during a frat party trip, the brochures collected on a honeymoon, a nameplate from the office door where you worked, and then the keys to the first house owned.
Just remember, as we go on this journey of investigating past and personal history, it’s only a one-way trip — to the future.
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former,” said Albert Einstein.
Now, if by stupidity Al means silliness and folly, it is hoped he is right in his prediction. A good time must last forever or what’s the point of the old saying “I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade,” and then added comedian Ron White, “... And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party.”
Patrick M. Kennedy does full-service editing and writing and has published several books. http://www.abetterword.com/ and http://www.funwithretirement.com/