Group memory is rarely linear
We spent a fun afternoon with extended family. Not an frequent experience and one that always comes with certain revelations. This one involved cousins and siblings and what I learned is that although we talk about the same family we have different memories of things life in a family is rarely linear and in this case we were dealing with what do you remember about two generations and three generations back. Actually, more than you think. We remember those who came before and if you put enough people around the kitchen table you can build a pretty good view of a given situation. I’m talking only about history here. What we remember about people we haven’t seen in half a century. Remember homes we have not visited in half a century. How we were able to deal with loss and discovery. As I say, a great way to spend the afternoon. This has been a very rainy day and we were left wondering how many windows we had left open when we left the house just after lunch time. Turns out not very many. No damage and no puddles. That’s a good thing to learn. And now we’ll wait for darkness to come down upon us and we can go to bed for another night. Given the hour I doubt we will have any visitors today but one never knows. This is summer and people are out wandering the countryside. Who knows who will appear on the doorstep. When I went to get in the car I missed the fact that it had been turned around. Some confusion.
