Memories

Memories...good ones...sad ones...they are all little pieces of our lives that fit together and form a kaleidoscope of emotions...
My mother has many memories...
I recently resigned from a very good job to move in with my 85-year-old mother who is suffering from memory loss. Today, I had a pan of scraps to which I had added water to make a "soup" to pour over my pups' food. She saw it and, because of the color, asked if it was tea. I told her no, and she said, "Okay," but during the time she was doing the few dishes we had, she asked three more times, and twice, she started to get a pitcher so she could help me by finishing fixing my "tea." Her short-term memory is pretty bad right now due to a reaction to some seizure medication she was given in the hospital recently. Her long-term memory, however, has been very good. I'm still not sure how good the long-term memory is now...since her last hospital stay...but until then, it was very good.
She often would talk about my dad...how much she loved him...and tell about how they ran away to get married, even though their families were against it...how she was told that my dad was no good, but he had proved everyone wrong by being a good husband and father, and by providing a good living, as well as, a good retirement. This year, my mother and dad would have been married 68 years. He passed away nine years ago, but she still gets tears in her eyes sometimes when she talks about him.
My mother has many good memories...and that is what she talks about...the good memories. I never hear her say anything different than, "I've had a good life. Oh, I've had some troubles, but not like some people. I have had a good, long life." Her good memories certainly must outweigh the others.
We are making memories every moment. Some of our memories may be short-lived in our conscious mind, but some will remain even after our minds no longer work for us...some even until the day we die, so keep making memories...and dwell on the good ones...lock them in...hoping...they'll last forever...