Images

Try To Remember

 It's funny what you hold on to, the things you remember when everything ends. - Anonymous

I love those random memories that make me smile no matter what is going on in my life at the moment. 

Inspired by the nostalgic song Try to Remember from the musical The Fantasticks, this series is a recollection of my best things when life was low, and oh, so mellow - images that have been embedded in my mind, evocative smells, sounds, rousing memories of a certain taste, the poignant remembrance of a touch. 

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There was a time when I remembered things quickly and easily. Now, not so much.

I have had to dig through the bottom of my crammed adult closet for those especial moments, unforgettable experiences, and cheerful celebrations with people who matter to me. 

So many of them.

I try to remember. 

Birthdays, re-connecting with loved ones...

Family vacations, yuletide, crafting for Easter...

School events, May Day, recital prep days...

Too tired to sleep, 

too sleepy to hooman.

Then and now in Hawaii...

How did they grow so fast?

Missions, gorging on ramen...

The only thing I like better than talking about food is eating.

I remember things that fill my heart without their trying.

Unexpected moments that become my best memories.

Azul nestled in his coffee can house...

Priscilla with her green eyes, purring...

Chip the chipmunk atop his tunneled home in the sandbox, hoarding a piece of Papa Johns pizza in his mouth...

Lexi cuddling with her new favorite squishy-mallow friend, Matt...

Beau Bean snuggly tucked into his hemp bedding...

The surprise of a blue robin egg.

A scapular from the Mission Church.
Tucson: 2022 

Even as I recollect the good times, I also remember the sadness. Images of people who have walked in and walked out of my life.

I remember being saved by grace when I succeeded, but I remember it much more when I failed.

It is said that as you get older, three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.

At least, I can still hang out or talk with old friends from high school and say, Remember when?

More so, thank God for photographs.

Perhaps, in the sunset of my life, they will help me remember.

Sunset on Waikiki Beach. Photo: VEV, Hawaii: 2023