by Ivan Remaj

Created on: February 11, 2010

Walking on my way home from college, using all my force to get trough the snowstorm, I saw an interesting picture. Couple of neighborhood's kids were running all around the building and enjoying this hell weather. But the interesting thing were two boys no more than 8 years old. They took off their winter jackets and shirts and wrestled in this subzero environment. For a moment I froze and not from a thought of being naked in this penguin land but from a sharp sense of deja vu. When I told this story to my best friend he realized that 15 years ago that same picture for main characters had us two. Then like a bolt of lightning that whole moment passed trough my head and memories felt so alive. I could feel my head going trough the cold snow and every hair on my body was erected in a second. Heavy breathing, indescribable coldness, tears and laughter few minutes after and for what? For one lollipop that I didn't want to share and for a snowball in the head. Don't ask me why we took off our jackets because I don't remember. I just know that it's one of my happiest memories ever and surly the weirdest. Few bruises, frostbites and a lot of yelling from our parents while we where heating up with blankets by the stove and that huge laughter when we looked each other. Now distinctively older we where sitting in the cozy coffee shop away from this blizzard and with the same goofy look on our faces we where remembering that whole incident and laughing like only two friends can.

Memory is a funny thing. Psychology defines memory as an individuals ability to store, keep and recall information. There are many different classifications of memory. But every memory process starts with a sensation either visual, olfactory, taste... and end by storing informations in a particular part of a brain. So as every other human ability, memory is by no means perfect. Just the opposite it has flaws beyond measuring. But it also has incredible recall ability. It takes just one small sensation to take you back to past. Memories shape our entity from an early age. After all they are information about our interaction with this world. Happy, sad, weird, but for the most parts nostalgic. Our every emotion, fear, expectation comes from our memories however small they are. Memories can even be false because we want to forget something traumatic so we lie to our self. They aren't just limited to hold information about our interaction with our surrounding but also internal components such as toughs, fantasies, dreams... Our memories separate us from others, bond us and they give us our individuality. Log of our journey and a book of life that is ours to read if we just figure out how.

Learn more about this author, Ivan Remaj.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.