After reading Kim Zorn Caputo's Miracle, I could relate to it almost instantly. I have many moments that all I have to do is simply smell something familiar, and a rush of my past will come back to me. I can close my eyes and see the moment as if it had happened yesterday, and with the rush of the moment comes a flood of emotion as well. When she spoke of how Thamyris was punished and his memory was erased of how to play the piano, it made me think of how much less I would be myself if my one personality trait that made me who I am was taken away from me. It is hard to imagine not being able to remember things, and it makes you realize how often we take things in life for granted. People who are having memory loss are always confused and can eventually become very upset by this. They can't remember who they are, they can't remember who their family is. If they can't remember themselves, who do they have to confide in? Thinking about this makes me remember last May, when my Grandma got very sick. She has Parkinson's Disease which will in time (which has now set in) give her Dementia. She was in the hospital and turned to my Grandpa and said, "When is my Donald going to get here?" My Grandpa is Donald. It broke my heart to realize that this disease is taking part of my Grandma away, and soon all I will be left with is the memories I've shared with her. The part that scares me is, what is she going to be left with, if not her memories?
The picture that stood out to me the most is Sally Mann's Picnic. The children in this picture are so engaged to the fire, it has a calming affect to it. Fires are calming in themselves but these children seem to be so engaged to it anything could be happening in the real world and they would be oblivious to it. This picture interests me because you could look at it a few different ways. You could see the obvious; children sitting outside watching a campfire, or you could analyze it deeper and consider a few different things. The fire is fairly large, and it seems as though it could be spreading. Maybe this fire wasn't intentional and something caught. To the right of the fire is a darker figure, and I am not able to make out what exactly it is. In every aspect of life you are able to analyze a situation and decide what path is the right one to go on, or you could just choose one without thinking about it, and making mistakes along the way. Whichever way you decide, new memories will always be made.
Photos really do trigger the memory. I am sorry to hear about the things you have experienced with your grandma. All too often it takes something like that to see things differently. Photos are often used as a type of therapy in several memory care units. A person with Dementia can think of what their life was like before, for a small moment it makes their family feel better, it makes them connect again. A memory is a terrible thing to lose but if a photo can bring even a small piece back for a small moment it is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI like what you say about the girls engaged in the photo of the fire. I think of all the times my family has had a camp fire. I can almost smell it. A person’s memory is triggered in so many different ways when looking at a photo as more than just a photo or a piece of art. It is really so much more.
My grandpa and aunt also have Parkinson's disease. It is very sad to see people go through all the looses that take place during the progression of Parkinson's disease, including memory.
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