Memory Almost Full
I couldn't name a song on the album, but just the title of Paul McCartney's new album, "Memory Almost Full," makes me smile. McCartney and I are about the same age, and I know how he feels.
Think about dates. Not the dates that you write on a calendar, but the dates that are permanently written onto your personal hard drive. You start out with only two meaningful dates: your birthday and Christmas. Its not too long before you find out about New Years, Easter, July 4th, Halloween and Thanksgiving. By the time you get to school, you start paying attention to Labor Day, Columbus Day, Presidents Day, Valentines Day and the ever popular April Fool's day. Along the way, you started to pay attention the birthdays of your siblings and your parents and your parent's anniversary, along with Mother's Day and Father's Day. We Catholics pick up a bunch of Holy Days throughout the year that I still remember, even if I don't observe them. Jews seem to have even more.
If they hang around long enough, you pick up boyfriend/girlfriend birthdays - and the dates remain in your brain long after the relationship fades. Then you get your spouse's birthday and, of course your own anniversary, plus the birthdays and anniversaries of your in-laws. Soon enough your siblings have gotten married, and you've got their anniversaries and their spouses birthdays. Then you start with your own kids, your nieces and nephews; then their marriages and then their kids. The cycle is not complete until you start accumulating some dates for the passing of those whose birthdays we remember.
There are the other days you can't forget: Pearl Harbor Day, September 11, and for me, November 8. There are days you could easily give up, but can't seem to - the third Saturday in October is the date of the Alabama-Tennessee football game.
I may have space for a few more dates to remember, but I have to be judicious. The memory is almost full.
Think about dates. Not the dates that you write on a calendar, but the dates that are permanently written onto your personal hard drive. You start out with only two meaningful dates: your birthday and Christmas. Its not too long before you find out about New Years, Easter, July 4th, Halloween and Thanksgiving. By the time you get to school, you start paying attention to Labor Day, Columbus Day, Presidents Day, Valentines Day and the ever popular April Fool's day. Along the way, you started to pay attention the birthdays of your siblings and your parents and your parent's anniversary, along with Mother's Day and Father's Day. We Catholics pick up a bunch of Holy Days throughout the year that I still remember, even if I don't observe them. Jews seem to have even more.
If they hang around long enough, you pick up boyfriend/girlfriend birthdays - and the dates remain in your brain long after the relationship fades. Then you get your spouse's birthday and, of course your own anniversary, plus the birthdays and anniversaries of your in-laws. Soon enough your siblings have gotten married, and you've got their anniversaries and their spouses birthdays. Then you start with your own kids, your nieces and nephews; then their marriages and then their kids. The cycle is not complete until you start accumulating some dates for the passing of those whose birthdays we remember.
There are the other days you can't forget: Pearl Harbor Day, September 11, and for me, November 8. There are days you could easily give up, but can't seem to - the third Saturday in October is the date of the Alabama-Tennessee football game.
I may have space for a few more dates to remember, but I have to be judicious. The memory is almost full.
posted by Crotchety Old Fart at 9:56 AM
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