My DM lived with us before she passed at 93. She could remember details from her childhood as though they were yesterday. But could not remember if she took her pills 2 hours before. Makes me think the brain pushes fun memories forward to deal with getting older. She also spoke in her Czech language often, but I'm not sure who she was talking to. I don't speak the language. Interesting how little we know about the mind.
My grandmother was like that, as well, toward the end. She couldn't remember what she did the day before, but in an attempt to exercise her memory a bit, I'd ask her where her family's farm was, when she was a little girl. Without batting an eye, she'd blurt out "Between Heidlersburg and York Springs" which are two towns in Pennsylvania, along Route 15 southwest of Harrisburg.
When she was a little girl, her parents were fairly well-to-do. Her father ran a construction company in Harrisburg. They owned a house in H-burg, that her father had built, along with several others along the street, and also had the farm out in the country. They also had a car and a truck. But then, in the Great Depression, they lost the farm. Also lost the car, but kept the truck, to help out with the business. Anyway, Grandmom was born in 1924. I'm not sure what year specifically they lost the farm, but she was probably less than 10. She made it to the year 2015 and age 91.
But, even at the ripe old age of 50, I'm noticing that many of my childhood memories come in loud and clear, like it just happened. But then I have to think long and hard about what I actually DID do yesterday!
For instance, I just thought about when my Dad took me to see "Smokey and the Bandit" in the theater. I would have been 7. I vaguely remember there was some Herbie the Love Bug movie out that I wanted to see, but Dad was like trust me, you'll like this. As a little kid, I had no idea "Smokey" was a slang term for "cop", so I was thinking the movie was something about Smokey the Bear, and didn't want to see it. I can also remember them letting us in the theater while it was still playing, so we caught maybe the last 10 minutes of it and then sat there until the next showing. For some reason I can remember distinctly the CB radio conversation "My hearing is just fine. The fact that you are a Sheriff is not germane to the conversation." "The GOD-D@MN GERMANS got nothing to do with it!!" As a kid I didn't understand it, but I remember the audience laughing, so I knew it was supposed to be funny.
I also remember Burt Reynolds saying "I only take off my hat for one thing", and thinking I KNOW WHAT IT IS!! But, my not-yet-corrupted 7 year old mind thought that it was to take a bath. It wasn't until a few years later, when I was a little bit older, that I caught on to what that meant.
I can also remember in those days when they let you out of the theater, the exit was different from the entrance, and went outside the mall. So, if you wanted to go back inside the mall, you had to walk back around and go through the main doors. I can also remember it being a warm, humid, summery day, where the sky is blue, but hazy and a bit chromey looking.
That was about 43 years ago. But, ask me what the last movie I saw in the theater was, and I'm drawing a total blank.
But, my memory's not perfect. For instance, my Dad took me to see Star Wars in the theater as well, and the only thing that really sticks out is that I got a bit shocked/surprised/upset when Obi Wan Kenobi gets it. That might have been the first time I saw an on-screen death...or at least the first time I was old enough to have it register with me, and understand what it meant.
Mom and Dad were divorced by that time, so I do remember going to see both Star Wars and Smokey and the Bandit three times in the theater. Once with Dad, once with Mom, and once with Grandmom and Granddad.
