Memories

I was in the hospital gift shop today filling some time between tests and treatments. I spotted some circus peanuts. Seeing those those strange, bright orange marshmallow candies immediately made me think of my Grams. She loved them. I personally think they are gross. Anyway, seeing them transported me back to the days when my family and I would go visit her in Iowa. She always had circus peanuts and wafer cookies at her house. Both of them were usually stale, but no mind, she would still munch on them. Every morning I would would wake up super early with her. She would put on a pot of coffee and we would sit at the tiny table in her cramped kitchen. Once the coffee was brewed she's pour herself a cup, always let me put the sugar in it for her. I don't know how she didn't go into a diabetic coma. I would put practically a pound of sugar in it! After her coffee was ready, we would sit in her little kitchen and nosh on toast, circus peanuts and pink wafer cookies. I can still hear the sound of her dentures clicking as she gnawed on the circus peanuts, which were more like circus bricks. Ha! I find it very interesting how such small things can surface memories from many different facets of life. Songs, foods, places, smells, etc. They can all so easily remind you of people in you've interacted with, or places you've been. There are a plethora of things that can stir up memories of friends, family, pets, and so on. However, there are those certain things that will bring up memories of that ONE person, place, or thing time-after-time. For instance, there are many triggers that make me think of my bestie. The one and only Tyler Shookman, but the one object that never fails is if I see, or even think about a Tracker. Tyler and I had so many happy memories in that car. I have a giant grin on my face just thinking about it! Another trigger for me is taco flavored Doritos. Whenever I see them I think of my adorable friend Abby Fritz. We spend a lot of fun times at her house eating taco Doritos and watching TLC. Little Debbie's make me think of my wonderful friends Kim Lea(Sutter) and Chelsea Moser. Kim loved swiss cake rolls and Chels was a big fan of the brownies. Those treats both bring me back to the fun sleepovers we would have. There are so many songs that transport me to different times and places. Whenever I hear "You are so beautiful" by Joe Cocker my sister pops right in my head. I have serenaded her many of times. I'm sure she wishes she could delete those memories from her mind! The Plain White T's song "1,2,3,4" takes me back to my first date with my husband. The song played in the car while we were driving to the hockey game. Even though it was our first date we both knew that song fit us perfectly. Jeff even bought the CD for me a few weeks later as a birthday gift. We were on the same page from the start. It was meant to be(insert aww here...out of cuteness or disgust...I'll let you decide). Enough with my sappy memories. I guess what I'm trying to convey is that these memories are important, and special. We should all take the time to reminisce in moments past, and enjoy making new memories. Savor the life we live because it is entirely too short. This post makes me want to break into the beautiful Barbara Streisand ballad "Memories". I might just have to go crank up the iPod for a little sing-song!