What Do We Remember?

Today’s word to journal at OneWord is “remember.” Easy to write about for someone who teaches memoir writing, wouldn’t you think? Not exactly, since the broad scope of the word caused me to contemplate the whole notion of how memories are formed. Why do we remember certain moments in our lives so clearly while others are buried within our minds?

Scientific studies show that highly emotional events are remembered much longer and more clearly than those that evoke little or no emotion. It’s why my generation remembers the Kennedy assassination and the first moon landing, while my parents remembered the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Today we remember events such as the space shuttle disaster, the Oklahoma City bombing, and, of course, 9/11.

When recalling my own vivid memories, I realize they are indeed emotional.

My first memory was one of terror. I was very young, because I was still sleeping in a crib. When I woke up, the blanket was completely covering me, and I couldn’t find my way out. I related this memory to my mother, who said our house was always chilly in the winter, so she fastened my blanket to the crib rails so I wouldn’t kick it off. It’s likely I somehow managed to get turned around under the blanket. To this day, I can’t stand anything over my face and head.

Another memory of childhood involves my vision. My parents found out I was extremely nearsighted when I was only three. I vividly remember riding home in the car wearing my new glasses and realizing trees had leaves and cows had faces. I also remember having breakfast with my husband after cataract surgery five years ago and being able to read a sign across the restaurant without my glasses.

Other vivid childhood memories are also emotional. I remember being accused of writing something derogatory about our teacher on the blackboard and being helpless to prove it wasn’t me. Perhaps that’s why I can’t tolerate movies about people who are charged with crimes they didn’t commit.

I clearly remember the day when my classmates started a forest fire. I attended a small country school with two grades in each room. I was in fifth grade when we went on a picnic in the woods near our school. Some of the sixth graders snuck off to smoke and didn’t put out their cigarettes carefully. Several acres were burned before the fire was finally extinguished. The experience didn’t prevent me from taking up the smoking habit later on, but I’ve always been extra sensitive to the smell of burning.

Of course there are many other memories that have stuck with me over the years. It will be interesting to see which ones are retained as I grow older. As my mother’s Alzheimer’s progressed, she lost all her memories of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, but she still remembered events from her childhood. Toward the end she became upset because her parents, who had passed away decades earlier, didn’t come to visit her.

Learn more about memories:

• How we remember and why we forget
• Brain regions influence our memories
• Neuroscientists identify how trauma triggers long-lasting memories in the brain
• New understanding of how we remember traumatic events
  
• Probing the mechanics behind how we remember
  
• The flavor of memories

What are your first memories? Are most of your early memories emotional?