Memories are a mixed bag. Some are uplifting and cheerful, warm and sweet. Others haunting and devastating. I know both are important and I should be grateful for them equally. It’s hard to be though. Sometimes the warm, sweet ones are even more painful than the devastating ones because there’s a longing to go back. At least with painful memories, there’s the relief that you’re no longer in that place and time. And what happens when they’re all mixed together, sweetness and pain, like most of life?
I’m thankful for the memories of people who have gone. Those are places I get to visit with them still. But memory is tricky and illusive and gently faded like a photograph left in the sun too long. Yes, I’m grateful for memories, but I’m also guarded about them. Stuck in memory means an avoidance of being here now. Perhaps, it’s best to visit briefly but not linger too long…
Feryl Files 