I Remember ...

I was just trying to do some mental math, as I wondered how old my brother was when he moved out on his own. My Youngest Son and I were speaking of the future last night and I was just trying to draw some comparisons.

I remembered where I was when I read My Brother's first letter to me after he moved into his first apartment. I was still living in the first home we moved into when we moved to Saskatoon. I remember the landscape around me as I read and reread that letter...

I counted back the years. Since we moved to Saskatoon in 1988, my guess was my brother moved out in 1989.

I then recalled him saying he wanted to prove to himself that he could live on his own and support himself before he got married. He got married in 1990. My assumption was confirmed.

I can remember how I continually forgot the year my brother married. I guess I never made a mental note of the year. 1990 is a nice, round number and easy to remember. Once I realized and noted this, I never forgot.

Not too long ago, I wondered how Mom would have felt after her youngest child left home. I now remember when My Brother moved out, his soon to be fiancée moved in. Mom's nest wasn't left empty for long.

A light and easy conversation with my Youngest Son took me down memory lane for a rather delightful walk through time.

I can remember thinking all of the knowledge I gained through various courses I had taken could be lost in a fraction of a second if my brain suffered an injury. I laughingly said that I should insure my brain because it would be such a shame to learn all of this information and stand a chance at losing it all.

It is now several decades later, my brain is still functioning and I even remember some of what I learned back in my learning years. But "retaining information" is still in the forefront of my mind. I worry less about what I learned from the courses I took and worry more about forgetting what I was just told.

Our brain is a precious commodity. We need to nourish, exercise, appreciate and treat it with care. As we go through the paces of living our life as we know it do we really appreciate what a blessing is to simply ... remember?