Saturday, October 27, 2007

Memory Lane

To the bottom left of this page is a section titled "Memories." I haven't the foggiest notion what a xanga "memory" is, but recently, my mind has been drawn to the subject of times past and my current recollections of those times.

Somehow or another, on two separate occasions last evening, the topic of my college days came up between myself and a pair of friends. And in the midst of discussing where I am now in contrast to where I was then, I became keenly aware of a couple of things.

A. I'm very happy as a 29-year-old that has left the high school and college days behind him and is slowly but steadily coming out of the quarter-life crisis era. And...

B. I think my memories of college and other times of life are far better than the actual events were that inspired those memories.

That probably sounds foolish and pseudo-intellectualized, but what I am trying to say is that the more I think back to those times, the fonder those memories become, to the point that they're almost fictionalized accounts of a smaller truth. I suppose it's similar to storytelling. Historically, storytelling has held a great place in the development of cultures and societies, yet the story doesn't quite stay the same but evolves over time into something, presumably, greater than the preceding version of the story.

I find the same true in my own life. Not that I grossly embellish the actual facts of a moment or scenario (at least not too much) but the life that I experience between the memory and the present seems to add its own flavor and perspective to the memory, making for something like fine wine that's had time to age and mature.

So when my friends asked me if I, working currently with college students presently, miss the college days, I had to say no, because at this point I'm not even sure what the true college days were like. The memories of those times seem so far away that I'm not even totally sure how accurate they are anymore.

But I can say that I enjoy those recollections fondly. It was a good time of life that I was blessed to have. And if I'm enjoying this present life as much as I am know, then I can only wonder what distortions of this present age will present themselves into fond memories in the future.