We had light rain last night for a little while. It left the morning damp and the sky cloudy. A slight breeze ruffles the leaves every now and then. More rain is predicted for today. It is a perfect sloth day to stay home and be lazy.

I have always had a great memory. Sometimes I remember in words. Other times I remember in images. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve had to rely more on images as the words are harder to remember, harder to find. Those missing words eventually come to mind but often too late to be helpful. As for images, they stay. Even after all these years, I can still close my eyes and see my walk to school, what houses I passed and how the sidewalk was shaded by overhanging branches. I can count the houses along the street. I can see them all.

When I was in the eighth grade, the infamous Sister Hildegard made us memorize the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address and the Bill of Rights. Each of us had to stand and recite the parts we’d memorized until we had finished with each document. The Gettysburg Address was the easiest to memorize followed by the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence took a long while. Somehow she kept track of our progress. It was easy for me.

In Ghana, my school was off the main road. Between the school and town there were fields and a few buildings. I used to walk to town to shop on market day. It was downhill into town and uphill back. I still remember the road, the kiosks and the buildings. I can close my eyes and see the post office, the bank, the Super Service Inn, the small kiosks selling canned goods like butter and a few veggies, the book store, the aunties selling food along the sides of the road, the entrances to the market and the few spots to rest a bit and have a Coke. It has changed over the years, but I still remember how it was. I think of that as a gift.

I store things in usual places figuring usual will help me remember where those things are when I need them. Sometimes, though, I go to those usual places and don’t find what I want. I had put them somewhere else, somewhere safe. My memory had failed me, but then an imagine, a snapshot, jumps into my head, and I remember. I get my stuff, use it and then put it back in a safe place.

This entry was posted on May 29, 2025 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.