We spoke with a friend this afternoon who’s just had major surgery, and told us how some of her memories during that time still haven’t returned. Partly it was the pain meds for sure, probably also some the trauma of it all. Her story of course got me thinking about memory.
How much of what we remember longest really happened as we remember it? What are the ways that memories affect our feelings and choices? Having just returned from our NxNW Adventure, I’m also curious: what will we most remember in a month … and in a year?
Just now I was looking through photos from the trip again, finding a few of friends we met along the way so that I could email them copies. Doing that of course involved scrolling through our package of miracles (aka photos) from the trip. Wow.
Take this one, for example. Just over an hour from home, out by Owens Lake.
8044 Sleeping Caldera
My geographic mind sees this as evidence of the sleeping “supervolcano” that with one eruption could devastate much of North America as it has in the past. My photographic eye sees it as earth art. The combination of shapes and colors that motivated the photo still resonates when I look at it now.
Then there’s my memory of flying over this vista – all but vanished. Looking at the photo does bring back a visceral sense of the dry air and the fascinating landscape, but not this particular scene or the moment I snapped it. There it is again: the trip we dream, imagine, plan, take, and remember. Now increasingly also the trip we Dream anew. These dreams lack the specificity of the pre-trip dreams. Now it’s all more integrated into the magic of subconscious, without the distraction of preparation. Photos become but cold and pale two-dimensional captures of what was a rich flood of experience. I’m glad we have them, because they do serve as irrefutable reminders that we actually did this.
John & Anne Wiley 
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