Memories ~ #MondayBlogs

Memories are forever yours and yet there are times when the memories should be stored so that you never do forget.

Life changes, sometimes sad and more times happy, are good reasons to preserve those memories. In the fun movie 50 First Dates reminders of the past allowed the main character to move on with her life. Most of us thank goodness enjoy the ability to remember...

Baby albums which follow a child through grade school are precious memory keepers. Souvenirs from family trips help keep the fun in mind. Video-tapes, CDs and DVRs along with the older 8mm home films help to keep the images alive.

One of life's changes involves moving on such as leaving a family home for new adventures. Preparing to leave a home where children grew up, where rooms were witness to first steps, where couples grew old together can bring joyful tears and a need to hold on.

I'm making a "Memory Album" filled with my childrens' third grade paintings, greeting cards that were given to me through the years for various occasions, photographs of various keepsakes that would never survive packing and moving. Maybe paper waste to some, these memories will help to augment the ones I carry in my mind and heart.

In days to come I will be able to sit with my treasures and enjoy the past even when the past is no longer within my reach. I'm overly sentimental, I know. I look forward to my tomorrows. Everything that has happened to me has led me to where I am going and the future holds such promise.

Playing my song ~ #MondayBlogs

Music has always played an important role in my life, it's been a boost to my ego and a respite during troubled times. The words of a song have often helped me find clarity. And in recent years, songs have proven to be a trigger for unleashing creativity. Key scenes of more than a few of my novels have been written while specific songs have blasted over and over... and over again.

As for me, I sing without shame in the privacy of my shower or in the confines of my car (always alone) and I am always woefully off-key.

I dated a young man whose dream was to become a famous singer and entertainer and at 14 (me) and 15 (him) he would play his guitar and sing to me. We belonged to the local community center and there was a teen cafe where he often headlined the evening's entertainment - one night he dedicated a song to me, in front of everyone, and it was one of the most romantic things to ever happen to me. The song "Wild Thing" has never sounded the same ever again.

Since then there have been other songs sung to me or dedicated on the local radio station - Do You Love Me, The Worst That Could Happen, Lady in Red, Close to You, Through the Years, Have I Told You Lately... The day I was married our first dance was to We've Only Just Begun. Each time I hear one of these songs, or a few others I equate with significant events of my life, I feel flooded with nostalgia, happiness and a little bit of a return to my yesterdays.

When I wrote His Lucky Charm (originally titled Forgotten) I played Kenny Chesney's Because of Your Love on a continuous loop; for Courage of the Heart it was Once in a Lifetime by Keith Urban; currently I'm playing Kenny Chesney's (again) I Lost It for my present WIP (a sequel to Karma Visited). Music seems to reach right down, grabbing my emotions and shaking them up so that I can pour words onto paper and hopefully connect with my readers' emotional intellect.

What about you? Are there any songs which have special meaning?

Hope y'all are having a happy & safe 4th!

I'm sitting here watching the Macy's Fireworks on TV (yeah, I'm just an old fuddy duddy, lol) and getting very nostalgic.

When I was a youngster growing up in 'da Bronx, NYC (the only borough to begin with a "D"), and surrounding buildings weren't too tall to see across to the Hudson River, my parents and our neighbors used to pack a picnic dinner and we would all go up to Tar Beach to watch the fireworks from the rooftop. It was spectacular! Very fond memories.

Someone (usually my dad) would run an extension cord up there so we'd have a radio broadcast in the background. The oohs and aahs would all quiet when the anthem or other patriotic songs were played over the radio. The transmission was scratchy on the tube-powered radio, but the men, almost all WW2 vets, would stand proudly watching the display and all their eyes glistened as they softly sang the patriotic words along with the radio.

To this day I still get a little bit choked up when I hear our anthem and see the fireworks...

I hope this day has been spectacular, fun and safe for all of you.

note: The Macy’s fireworks display actually debuted on the Hudson in 1958 before becoming an East River tradition in 1976.  In 2008, it moved back to the Hudson River to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s landing in Manhattan

~ Now in Audio Book ~

  

              Final Sin    &    Courage of the Heart

Nostalgia

Funny... the things that can trigger a memory.

I had a mouse in the house yesterday. It was a little field mouse. I think he might have come in through the garage, we see them outside all of the time.

He ran across the living room and then doubled back to sit in front of the TV set. Foolish little fellow considering that I have three cats in the house.

My cats did NOTHING – the three of them, they just watched! I really don't think that they know they are cats.

I went and got a big-mouthed glass and a hard piece of thin cardboard and caught the little critter. He was actually cute. Then I walked him outside and let him go near a storm drain where he could find shelter. I certainly hope he had a safe night.

When I came back into the house I suddenly thought about my childhood friend Donna. When we were kids in grade school our science teacher encouraged us to raise and observe pet mice as a science project. Donna, another mutual friend and I bought three white mice at a pet store. Donna’s mom was cool about it and let us keep the cage with our mice at their house. (The other two moms were not so thrilled about having mice in the house.)

The mice were fun to watch and play with and the three of us took serious notes on the behavior for class. They became more pets than just a school project. Several weeks into the project the mice got out of the cage (I think one of D’s brothers left the cage door open). We never saw the mice again… I hope they made a break for the outside and got away, we never could get a straight answer from the little brothers.

I thought of Donna, she died a few years ago in a car accident. I miss her. Funny that a little field mouse would make me think of her. I miss her, but I didn’t feel like crying. I thought of the fun times we had and I chuckled at some of the mischief we got into. This little mouse actually made me happy.

The unexpected trip down memory lane made me think of how I have used memory flashbacks in my writing.

I thought of Tom Hughes, the hero of Within the Law. Tom has many poignant moments when he remembers the past - like the time he found his cousin after she ran away from home, the last time he saw his high school sweetheart before she died, or his memories of a brief love affair with the woman who taught him to love again. What triggered his memories? How did those memories affect the man he had become?

I’ve used flashbacks in other stories too, such as with Samantha Chaunce in A Chaunce of Riches. She had memories of Ben, a man she thought she would never have to see again after she left him in his hour of need. Sam had tried to suppress those memories along with the love she still had for him. Seeing him again and hearing his voice haunted her with those agonizing memories and all that she had given up.

Many things can trigger a memory and our minds wander. Sometimes the nostalgia brings us laughter and sometimes it brings us tears. A favorite cooking aroma, a perfume, a photo, a song we once danced to - they all seem to have the power to reach back into our subconscience and bring the memory to the forefront.

But a mouse on my living room carpet, that’s a first.