Day 21

Day 21 – A picture of something you wish you could forget.

Oh brother. I should have vetted this game better. I already forget everything. Sometimes I feel like that guy from Memento, only without the tattoos. Polaroid pictures could be useful, though.

I’m thinking here, and what I’m thinking is that I couldn’t possibly have a picture of something I’d like to forget. Seriously? Like I’d take a picture of something I wouldn’t want to remember? Or…I’d keep pictures of something I found so distasteful I’d like to forget it?

I’m going to take a pass on this picture, but I’ll tell you what I wish I could forget. About 25 years ago when I lived in Bavaria in what was then West Germany, my husband and I would get up early on Saturdays, swing by the meat market for some coldcuts, and the bakery for some fresh rolls and a pastry or two, and hit the road. We’d pick a direction and just head out to see what we would see.

One beautiful spring day we were racing across farmers’ fields (everywhere in Bavaria was a farmer’s field) and we came upon a very tragic accident in the middle of nowhere. German law required that we stop. Never mind that there were like 10 other cars on the side of the road…one had to stop. So we did.

I wish we didn’t.

I’ve plucked children from swimming pools, rendered first aid at school sporting events, and administered CPR once, not to mention countless trips to the ER for myself and my family…for anything from broken bones to lacerations to burns. Nothing comes close to the images from that day.

I’d like to forget, and mostly it’s buried nicely with the rest of the collection of crap that contributes to my neuroses, but every once in a while if I smell gasoline in an unexpected situation I get a flashback. Interestingly, I can pump gas and even mow the lawn (not that I would) and I don’t have a flashback then. I guess things have to line up just so….

What an amazing organ the brain is!