Every now and then you look back at the past and are surprised. The memories of events, real and fake have been mixed up and intertwined. Every time we remember something, a slight detail changes. When this happens enough, we can no longer trust memory. It happens a lot in this world.
Today, I realized it was happening to me. I found a photo of a friend of mine. I realized that somewhere between the story the photo told, and my memory of the day, the truth had to exist.
After a long excursion thru the most deceitful trails ever to be formed in the hopes of diminishing the population of carpetbaggers and politicians. We were looking for a way back to civilization and had finally found a road. A road with no cars on it. JohnRobert began a rather intense conversation with the sky about the failures of the road to deliver us from an Alabama Summer Heat Wave to a place with air-conditioning and indoor plumbing.
I must admit, upon finding this photo and trying to remember the exact details of the day, I was shocked with the realization of how much the photo did not reveal of this defining moment in my life, in John Roberts life and we can’t forget the stray cat either.
It was obvious that time, had just made the photo dusty and dirty. A little cleaning and it would be right back to it’s true status and would again be a shining piece of history to inspire the generations.
I took my laptop straight to the kitchen and started it on a deep clean cycle in the dishwasher. . . .
This was not as helpful as I expected it to be.
Many, many, many hours later, 5 bags of rice, a new credit card at a Apple Store, and a small bribe involving the marriage of an Apple tech and a Starbucks barista (one of those two will be really excited to learn that i am licensed to perform marriages and that piece of paper I signed means they get a tax break now, and a lot of that dudes debt) I had the photo back and restored to it’s original glory.
Now, years later, the photo of the event finally matches my memory of the day.
poor kitty.
What is the craziest memory of yours that has changed over the years? Tell us a story, and make it a great one!
