I tripped and fell when I was 12, and when I stood up I was 40! Pt.2
In a way I can’t believe my luck. I am the husband to an amazing woman. I am the father to a fantastic kid. I have a job that while is not letting me use my full abilities, at least stimulates me. I have a beautiful home that is full of great memories. But sometimes I look around and I wonder how I got here, how this is the finish line for years of both good and bad choices.
When I set my brain to “way back” mode it’s sad that it’s the embarrassing and painful memories that flash back first. The times during freshman year in college that I was the butt of pranks involving both shit and fire. The girls I tried to woo who looked at me like something that was stuck on the bottom of their shoe. Everyone has these types of memories, but my brain clings to them more than the others I suppose. I can remember in HD clarity the times I embarrassed myself in thinking I was acting “cool”, and now thanks to Facebook there are now ways to share such moments. This was shared with me a few years ago.
At the time I thought there was nothing more unlucky than an umbrella opening up inside. My roommates thought it would be funny to present me with many opened umbrellas around exam time, and here I am warding them off with a good luck charm I bought on my Israel trip a year before. I cringe when I think of this. Mind you I wasn’t always on the receiving end. I wasn’t the whipping boy. I gave as well as I got. I remember covering one of the holders of the umbrellas’ doors with 4 or 5 boxes of saran wrap, then using a hair dryer to seal it. I remember crushing up lady laxative into the other holder’s beers. But it’s the cringe worthy memories that bubble up in my mind first.
I recently heard about a rare mental condition called Hyperthymesia. According to a subject matter website there are “only 12 known people in the world who are able to remember their lives on a day-by-day basis. People with hyperthymesia are able to remember the events of any given calendar date, usually back to puberty, with stunning and accurate detail”. I can’t imagine having a worse super power. I will admit I would love to be able to relive some of my life highlights. But knowing my minds willingness to recall the embarrassing and cringe worthy, I am glad I don’t have it.