ICE CREAM, A BAJILLION SHARPIES AND NANU NANU

When I was a kid I was obsessed with capturing moments. In second grade I took this photography class and was fascinated with the concept that I could capture a moment in time and then look at it later. Of course that was 1977, and you had to drop your film off at Thrifty's Drugstore, where they served up those beloved weird shaped ice cream cones for 10 cents. Dang, you know you're old when ice cream used to cost less than... well just about anything these days. I was going to say a phone call but...well...shoot.

So anyway, I used to love to try and capture moments. I have these childhood notebooks somewhere that have little scribbles that say things like "It is 11:59 and 59 seconds on New Years Eve 1978." and "In 5 minutes and 5 seconds it will be my official birthday." If a notebook wasn't available I would write on whatever was handy: my bedroom wall, my hand, my bedpost. I would just stop and write it down. And then I would think about how in 5 minutes I would never be 9 again, or about how I would never see another new episode of Mork and Mindy (Shazbot!), or about how I would have to wear a stupid bra for the rest of my life starting today. I did this all through high school, and I sometimes even do it now as an adult. (Both the bra-wearing and the obsession with fading moments.) I somehow grasped at an early age that moments were important and sometimes priceless, and if I took a picture or wrote down the exact moment maybe somehow I could freeze that moment and keep it from disappearing forever. I'm not really sure if that makes me sentimental or disturbed or is an indication of slight OCD.


Anyway, today I was driving home when they announced on the radio that at that very second it was 05:06:07 on 08-09-10. I slammed on my brakes, swerved over into the ditch and scribbled it down on my dashboard with a Sharpie. Ok, not really. But I wanted to. And that moment came and went, and it will never come again. And I was thinking about how our lives are made up of a million moments, and it's just impossible to keep track of each and every one. In fact, I don't think I would want to. Even if I was from Ork and could freeze people (except for Fonzie) with my finger I wouldn't do it. Even if I had a bajillion Sharpies and infinity empty notebooks, I still wouldn't want to document every moment that has ever meant anything to me. Because sometimes I can get so caught up in thinking about things that will disappear - I can get so caught up in the thought that I have to journal or BLOG everything - that I  forget to relish why these moments are here in the first place. God created moments so that they would swirl around and through us, and sometimes change us, and then float away. It's just life. So what am I saying? I'm saying to enjoy the moments, store the best of them in your heart, and move on. Don't waste time playing freeze tag with your memories, because who wants to be "It" forever? I sure don't.

1...2....3....NOT IT !

Comments

  1. I read this and thought about all the things I should have written down and didn't (mostly for my kids and their experiences). In fact, I should write a lot of things down because the things that I actually have written and then find again later jog the memory of things that don't have anything to do with what was written down...I know that if you read that again it will make sense.

    So, what do we do with all of the truly empty spaces in our hearts that have been shut, forgotten, closed off from remembering, etc.? fill them up with new stuff even though the empty space is from back then? :) can memory spaces be moved? defragged if you will? :)

    Blessings my friend! (now what did I do with my sharpie???)

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  2. Jennnnnna.
    As I was reading this, I kept thinking, "This is so me." I used to do that all the time. Love this:)

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  3. You know, we are so alike in that way -- not that I want to write down everything, but that I love those "special moments". I recently heard that except for RIGHT NOW... wait, RIGHT NOW... life is just a collection of memories. Isn't that crazy? Anyway, love this blog. <3

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  4. I just realized that you wrote this in 2010. Hmm, some things never change, huh?

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