John Ray Week 13 - Past Memories
I used to live in Bakersfield California before moving to Fremont. I lived there until I was five years old. So naturally I do not have a lot of memories there. I have vague memories of the house I lived in, and the house that I went to for daycare, but other than that I had little memories of the place.
It wasn't until I went back during Winter Break when all of my memories came flooding back. I remembered the playground I would always play at. I remembered my brother's old elementary school. The old library where I would run around in and never read books. The Walmart where I would buy all my Skylanders toys. And I even saw the house where my daycare was, and managed to talk to my old daycare teacher as well.
All these old memories coming back really made me miss the times when I was just a small naive kid. I had no worries, and would really just do anything all day. I just played and played all day. Those days were so much better than nowadays when I spend all my time in my room doing homework. I think memories hold a great power in the way they can evoke certain emotions. For me, the memories made me feel nostalgic, and envious of my past self’s carefree life. This is why to me, memory is such an interesting part of the human mind. Its ability to evoke feelings into a person is truly interesting and fascinating.
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| Bakersfield Source: https://www.worldatlas.com/cities/bakersfield-california.html |
Hello John Ray. I loved the way you described revisiting your memories. I especially love that memory of you having fun at the library while never reading a single novel. I can tell how much fun you had during that part of your childhood. I love revisiting memories from a simpler time. When I see things from young Galilea's perspective everything seems so black and white. Things were either right or wrong. Simple. Life was so simple. Daily worries were just thoughts about how much I dreaded doing homework or thinking about when my teachers would yell "IT’S RECESS!" As you have said, I am envious of myself. I want to go back; forfeit all my freedom and responsibility to live like that again. Like you, I was not always in the Fremont school district. From grades pre-K to fourth grade, I went to school in Hayward in the school called Tyrell. All of my first friends, memories, and teachers reside in that school. Now I wonder how all of those people are doing. What changed about the school? How are the twins (for some reason in every school, there are always siblings that are just known for being each other’s siblings)? But I enjoy looking to the present and future instead. I wonder what will stay in my memory after five years have passed. Thank you for writing, this was a refreshing read.
ReplyDeleteHi John Ray! I really like how you focused on the past since other blogs for this week had surrounded this topic! Reading your blog had reminded me of my own past. Like you, I was not born in Fremont but I was born in Arizona. When I was eight-years-old, my family and I moved to California and we have yet to go back to Arizona. Because of this, I cannot really relate to the flooding back of memories like you had. But if I were to predict it, I would mostly likely especially since I spent a longer time there. If I remember correctly, in Beloved, Sethe mentions how memories of certain places will always remain the same since the place itself stays the same. So whenever we go back to that place, we are able to remember those memories. I tend to think back about how life felt so much more simpler than it is now. Just thinking back to those past memories had really got me to think more about how much easier and funnier life was before high school. I often tend to miss it and I wish that we could just go back. But I am still grateful that I even have those memories in the first place. For instance, due to Covid, we did not really get to experience middle school completely. So when I hear underclassmen talk about it, despite not really liking middle school, I still wished I had those memories to look back on. I tend to think back about how things would play out if they were different than they were now. But we cannot really change the past now. Thank you for your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi John Ray! I love the simplicity and the effectiveness that you took with this week's blog. It is quite concise, explaining this event where you were able to remember these obscure memories laden deep within your mind palace, but it is also profoundly relatable. It feels like this type of remembering is something that is universal for a lot of people. Oftentimes, I find myself placed in certain environments where I am only able to remember things from deep inside my mind because something provoked it. Sometimes it is small stories or moments of my life and sometimes it is major events that might have slipped my mind and haven’t thought about for a long while. But either way, there is something special about those elusive memories that we can’t pinpoint. It makes me wonder what else we have lost to time and memory. I am sure there are plenty of memories that lie in our unconscious mind that were definitely significant but we just don’t remember them. There must be so many moments that we have sworn to remember yet have undoubtedly forgotten.
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ReplyDeleteYour blog made me remember when I visited my old apartment. I used to live there until I moved to my current house in 2013. When I went, I remembered many of the little things. Similar to you, I had no care in the world. My only goal would be to jump into the pool waiting out for me in the hot days of the summer. Now, I just sit inside my room doing homework, like you. So I do agree with you John, memory is a very fascinating thing. I also like to think of it as a power. The power to travel back in time in our minds. Nevertheless, there are multiple views on memory, so I appreciate yours. Overall, I enjoyed your blog and it really opened my eyes to the various ideas people form about such a complicated topic.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I completely get what you mean. Whenever I return to childhood homes or places, I always reminisce on what took place there. Even the most minute of actions are suddenly a key part of my recalling. I think back on the simple actions I took for granted that are now a key part of who I am. It is a bittersweet moment. It is sad in that these are forever in the past. It is sweet in that these memories are such priceless aspects of our lives. We took it for granted but it is still just as important to us. I love going to my old schools and just reliving the experiences. I learnt to appreciate how simple life was. Overall, I loved your blog John Ray as it made me relive my life just like when I visit childhood locations.
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