A tour guide through the museum of my memory

We’ve said before that we often keep time by crisis. We say things like, “oh, yeah, that was before beth had brain malaria” or, “that was the same time as Rina was in the hospital” or, “that was after our friend was attacked”

It is easy to see life in chucks of time like that…what marks time are the crises….the moments when the weight of life here seems like it will crush you…when small losses and stress and changes in plans and the tyranny of the urgent and craziness pile up until you can’t believe all of those things are going on at the same time. 

We recently read a book as a community, “Caring enough to confront” by David Ausburger. In it he mentions the museum of our memory…and he talks about how our memories are skewed…that we slant our memories – they are not always accurate (this is a humbling realization for me...i often joke with friends about having a “steel trap” memory…and friends have been known to make deposits in my memory bank when they need help remembering details…but yes, even my memory is skewed…is incomplete).

So I am taking a tour of the museum of my memory…using pictures from the past 2 ½ years…and blogs as a tour guide…to keep me honest…painting a more complete picture than my memory alone.

Yes, we tend to mark time by crisis…but in the past 2 ½ years I have also marked time by celebration and joy…I can name moments of celebration…moments of joy…moments of hope…moments of wonder and breathing deeply…and resting.

I wrote a blog last year about our photo albums aren’t a complete picture of life (here’s a link if you want to read it)…but for today, they are a great tour guide…coupled with blogs and journal entries…they are helping me to refocus…and to see a more complete picture of life these past 2 ½ years…mixed in with the stress, loss, doubts, grieving and feeling overwhelmed there have been a lot of good times…a lot of joy and laughter…and crazy adventures.