I have a freakish memory. Being as self-centered as I am, I may remember hardly anything that you TELL me, but I'll remember pretty much anything I see. Conversations that I've had come and go in my brain, but anything I've seen I won't forget. Oh, and dates. Not just important dates -- birthdays, anniversaries, etc. (this doesn't mean I ACKNOWLEDGE them, but I generally remember them) -- but you could pretty much toss out any date in the last 25 years and I'll give you a reasonable idea of what I was doing on that date, if not remember precisely what was happening in my life.
Troy remembers precious little. This combination has required much grace and mercy on both of our parts through the years, but we work with it now. It's my job to remember what's behind us, it's Troy's job to plan for what's in front of us. It works.
I knew that Ashley had a fairly accurate memory and have used it to help me on many occasions. For, as I told my children yesterday, my brain is so full of useless memory, like the lyrics to Pat Benatar's "Shadows of the Night", that I can't remember where I put my keys.
Earlier this week, Ashley's instructor for her band class next year called to set up an appointment to help her pick an instrument. After she got off the phone, the agonizing began, "I told C . that I would pick the french horn, but now I don't know. Oh, shoot! Why did I tell EVERYONE that I was going to play the french horn?"
First, I didn't know why she would tell everyone that she would play the french horn either when I don't think she could have picked one out of a line up. But I TRIED (and failed) to point out that no one would remember what she said she would play by making this illustration: "Before we continue this conversation, tell me what D. (boy in her class that got on her last nerve) was wearing the last day of school." She looked at me quizzically for about 2.2 seconds and said, "Khaki shorts and a brown and white striped polo. Why?"
*sigh* Never mind. Illustration lost on people with freakish memories.
