Does anyone else think about brains a lot?

How amazing they are.  How they get to choose what moments we retain in our minds.  How they can make us forget why we walked into a room five seconds ago, but can help us remember every word of our favorite song in high school. What an incredible machine it is.

Since I’ve become a Mom, I’ve been tapping into the childhood memories that my brain decided to retain.  I’ll sit and watch my daughter playing solo in her favorite toy corner, and suddenly I can remember the spot that I LOVED as a four-year-old behind my living room couch where I used to gather all of my toys and play make believe for hours.

But the not-so-awesome memories show themselves too. Those moments where you felt the confusion of figuring out how to navigate life, friendships and social situations as a kid. And sometimes I wonder why my brain doesn’t choose to forget those, and instead choose to remind me why the hell I just walked into this room five seconds ago.

One of those memories carved its way through the weeds of chaos in my mind and showed itself recently.

I was five. Continue reading