I believe I have a decent memory of past events. I may not remember the name of the restaurant we went to on an anniversary 30 years ago, but if memorable, I can remember the evening. Now I am wondering what I can’t remember!
My pregnant daughter was talking about how a friend of hers had invited her to see Elton John with her this past weekend; unfortunately, she was going to be away for a wedding. She said to me, It would have been so cool if her baby’s first concert was EJ since that was her first concert. I asked when she went to EJ as I never remember her going, especially as a first concert; she replied with you, dad and brother. She then proceeds to talk about the tour tshirt she got, and how she wore it all the time. She remember the venue it was at, and sure enough, when I looked it up, it was indeed where she said it was in 1995! She found a picture of the tshirt on ebay, which also did not jog my memory. Her brother also says he is pretty sure he saw EJ in concert although he doesn’t remember when or who he went with. BTW, this would not have been my daughter’s first concert, that would have been the Beach Boys! We took the kids yearly to the Oldies concert sponsored by the Oldies radio station in the early 90’s.
Besides being upset I have no memory what so ever of seeing Elton John in concert, I am now mad we don’t have tickets for his farewell tour! If I still had my Palm Pilot or paper calendars, I would be able to prove we actually went; my online calendar only goes as far back as 2001. My son saved concert and sports ticket stubs, but he doesn’t think he was saving them at that age. He is going to look, but thinks they are in an unpacked box in his storage room.
Are there events your family talks about that you do not remember and should?
@snowball is it possible your d’s memory is somewhat faulty? Maybe she did go but you didn’t and she just thinks she went with you?
My aunt has told me things that her kids told her about things that we cousins did together that I don’t remember. It could be that I didn’t want to remember them.
I do wonder how and why different people remember the same time frame in wildly different ways.
@bajamm That was my original thought that maybe she went with a classmate, but she was 8 years old! As my son also seems to think we went, I have to believe we did. They had just switched schools and it was the start of the school year, so I don’t think it would have been anyone from the new school. That said, my daughter has a vivid imagination and I did think she made this up and believed it; but again, as my son also thinks we went, I am thinking we did.
We have many childhood event that my brother and I have widely different versions. As my brother also has a wild imagination, I would like to believe my versions are accurate!
This reminds me of the last episode of This is Us, where Kate and Randall remember a significant day differently.
All I can say is my memory was far better before radiation treatment than it has been afterward. On the other hand, it’s sort of nice being able to watch “repeat” movies and TV shows again without being bored because I’ve forgotten most of it, so I suppose there’s a bright side.
Fortunately I have my H and kids to remind me of things, and I haven’t lost the ability to solve problems (real life, strategy games, computer games) or I think I’d be really depressed… I definitely hold my own or better with those - even better than 99% of game players across all ages according to stats from some of them. However, my family often reminds me of things we did, etc. Such is life.
Oh, I could definitely have forgotten something like that. My memory is nowhere near what it used to be. I have noticed it seems to have improved this last year when I upped my exercise regime and improved my diet, though.
What happens to me is a sibling or close relative will tell me a story about something I said or did 40 or 50 years ago and I don’t remember it at all and I know why. To me, the incident was insignificant, or my comment was simply a sarcastic off the cuff retort, but somehow to them it was an important event, so they remember it, and quote me, and I have not the slightest memory of the event. The Elton John Concert is another story. I am not sure if I went or not! I will have to ask a friend if we went.
Sadly, I have a poor memory and that kind of thing, @snowball, happens to me all too often. I’ll even have the experience where a group is talking about a certain movie and I’ll ask someone if they’ve seen it and they’ll look at me in surprise and say, “Yes, I saw it with you!”. Definitely not my finest trait.
I have “forgotten” lots of bad experiences. Drains away too much energy. I view negatives as a learning experience. As an optimist & as an idealist, I tend to focus on positives. This creates, rather than destroys, energy.
On a side note: Do not worry that EJ won’t perform again …I predict a Las Vegas “stay” with him just raking in money with a 3-6 months of concert performances in Celine Dion’s or Gaga’s auditorium so his family have a stable place to park the nannies and tutors while Daddy works.
The John family burns through money and it will need to be stoked sooner than later…
Just the other day I was trying to remember what happened to my dd’s old bedroom set. Did we sell it? Donate? Garage sale? I have no clue. I think my brain said it wasn’t important and put it in the delete file.
I post a lot on Facebook, so I get “Memories” every day. I’m shocked at how often I don’t remember posting about a particular event. Also that sometimes I don’t remember the event itself! A recent memory was from a cruise two years ago, when DH got down on a knee when we were by the pool and asked if I would stay married to him for the next 30 years and everyone applauded. I don’t remember that at all!
I can remember seeing Sarah Jessica Parker as Annie on Broadway as a child. I remember so many details of that.
I think I saw EJ in concert and I think he was with someone else I really liked and I have no idea. It wasn’t BJ. Could it be Sting because I did see him too before.
There are tons of events I don’t recall at all.
I used to joke we could have a green screen and take pictures with the kids at Disney and all these cool places since they wouldn’t really remember. You could probably do that with me now.
I remember floor plans of houses, offices, every bedroom (so, so many). I am a visual learner and this has turned out to be true in my remembering also. I do not remember names–and not remembering political names can be a problem. I can, however, tell you numerous research facts about nearly everything domestic and social-economic as long as I have read them and not heard them.
H remembered a name of two doctors we used 36 years ago this weekend. It was quite amazing.
I do remember gifts rather keenly but that is a new thread
@Wellspring, I saw the Who twice, but I only actually remember one of the shows … and mainly because my friend in the seat next to me was in the line of fire of the man next to him … who tossed his cookies. There were no paper towels of any kind in the bathrooms. It was not a pleasant couple hours after that incident. It seems that much of what I remember anymore about past events is not the event itself, but some random odd thing that happened during the event.
I think the most amazing “forgotten” experience I have heard about is this one: My best friend was at a wedding this past summer. She was shocked to find out that the deacon who married the couple was her very serious, exclusive-relationship college BF of four years. She went to chat with him at the reception and he told her he did not remember her. Uh, what!!!
@Marian, I have purchased the same book 3 times - twice as hardback and once as e-book. I get so frustrated when I waste money like that.
I worry about memory in general, because my mom died at 70, and had significant dementia well before then.
Elton John is someone I’ve seen multiple times… including with Billy Joel. Great concert. I didn’t even know he was doing a farewell tour - I guess I better check it out.
