It has been a very quiet memorial day in New London today, and I find that sad. Not to say that the day and the particular people remembered on this day (especially armed forces and recently lost loved ones) has been forgotten, but the outward celebration of life has not been proclaimed. That I can tell. Then again, maybe we all o this in many ways. I chose to think and pray for those close to my friends and myself, we have lost over the past few years and days, and I chose to make these thoughts action by writing some people I was close to on my left forearm as I ran in a local 5K race in remembrance and memorium.
It is important to remember, for so many reasons. The title I chose for this post is one of the many dictionary definitions for "memories". The length of time over which recollection extends. As many of you know, one of the struggles related to my brain injury is trouble recollecting short term memories (anatomy was really difficult five months post accident!) So, according to this definition, their is a limited time which recollection extends. This is of course true, and maybe even more true for somebody like me who has trouble recollecting in general. It is also true because people with brain injuries and short term memory deficits are often depressed and frustrated with life due to these struggles. That tells you how important memories are.
Memories are extremely relevant too. Where we have been and what we hold onto can tell us a lot about who we are right now. It can also tell us where we would like to and not like to go in the future. Memories are like a cities on the map of your story, your life. They are filled with everything life has to offer, all the ups and downs, all the love and pain, all the trial and tribulations- all the ebb and flow. So they are not only important and purposeful, but they are monumental in leading us towards the life we would like to live, the destiny Love would have us grasp.
But I would say they are even more.
Memories are the recollection of all five senses combining to make a movie from the past, of a person, of an experience. They are not just a filling of time and space, but a lived opportunity at making this world better, or somehow OK. So on memorial day, we can think of the people who made these experiences come to life. After all, this life is about relationship. Good or bad, missing, crying, and rejoicing, people make us move, and love leads us to continue, on and on, with memories being the wake in the sea of time.
To all those I have lost, to all whose memory I hold still, joyfully or begrudgingly,
Thank You
For you have made my life beautiful and filled me to overflowing. And YOU continue to do this, in spirit and in truth, ALWAYS.
On this memorial day, know that YOU are much more then a "recollection", so much more, but rather our lives are an extension of God (in HIS image), that spans all time, and always rejoices at the memories we hold close. Memories are celebrations of Life.
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