Monday 31 March 2014

Memory - So Good

Elliot Perlman's The Street Sweeper opens with a beautiful idea "Memory is a wilful dog. It won't be summoned or dismissed but it cannot survive without you. It can sustain you or feed on you. It visits when it is hungry, not when you are. It has a schedule all of its own that you can never know. It can capture, corner you or liberate you. It can leave you howling and it can make you smile."

I had this highlighted to me the other day, when a song came on. It was a B.o.B song, which I hated when it was on the radio, and used to automatically change station at the sound of the first bar of music. Yet this time, I was instantly elated, and suddenly dancing round the kitchen (don't judge, you do it too).

It took me awhile to work out what was going on. I've discovered I have an emotional memory now attached to this song, that I was initially unaware of.

When my partner was away for two weeks (on the trip I declined in order to be a good mum to eldest child with exams), I got it into my head that we should take up bowling as a family, and join a league. This was a short lived idea, once I discovered that bowling is not for the likes of the people in the Big Lebowski or Kenny Powers, as TV would lead you to believe. It's for people that can afford to drop $60+ for 40 mins entertainment. And for ladies whose hips don't seize up for days after using a previously unknown muscle for the first time.

We did have a great time, rare to get an activity that works for all ages of our clan, and during our game, I managed to get TWO strikes in a row. Both involved me dancing around shouting "IN YOUR FACE, SUCKERS!" to the kids, with my arms flailing wildly above my head in time to the music. Both strikes occurred during this song. (New parents, you won't understand this, but once at least one of your kids is a teen, nothing brings more enjoyment than publicly embarrassing your kids at your own expense...I need to point out, the embarrassment was caused by my old lady dancing, not my sporting prowess).

So now, if I hear this once hated song, and I am instantly elated. For no apparent reason. The human brain is fascinating.

Do you have odd memory hooks?

Linking up with Maxabella Loves for Weekend Rewind.

PS the film clip opens in Paris, which also makes me smile *sigh*


PS Vote for me please!  I need the writing courses (click link - button seems to take you to the wrong page?? www.surveymonkey.com/s/BAB2014 )

18 comments:

  1. Ahh Lydia, you make me laugh. I can just imagine you dancing around jubilantly to this song rubbing it in your kids' faces! It's definitely not a song I imagined you liking. You must have an inner home girl or something :) I love it when a certain song can take you back to another time.

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  2. "Picasso with the ball"? Hehe, I do believe you have identified the Mum version of the Dad Joke. Mortify away- there are far fewer parenting pleasures remaining for parents of teenagers. #tramIBOT

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  3. Hahaaa, I love those moments! For some reason The Cup Song from Pitch Perfect just about brings me to tears ( and happiness because I am better at The Cup Song than my 16 year old and she is jealous!!) and the song Lover by Sonia Dada makes me get all nostalgic for the weeks before I got married, driving around Canberra doing weddingy stuff with my Best friend.. that song was the top song 21 yrs ago and it was always on the radio.. Sigh!

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  4. It's so good when you get to embarrass your kids isn't it ???? A seems to have a much better knack for it than I do.
    Have the best day !
    Me

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  5. "In your face teenagers!" You are awesome. A bloggers bowling match is in order.

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  6. At 10, our girl is well into the age of embarrassment by her parents, which I agree is lots of fun and apparently I don't even have to try that hard.

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  7. No judging here, who doesn't dance around the kitchen?
    Love that you took the opportunity to embarrass them, Lydia :)

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  8. Music gets me through most of my days - crazy dancing and loud singing in the car - windows open. Memory intrigues me - it is almost like each memory itself is a memory of the memory before it and slowly reality becomes nothing more than a memory xx

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  9. Nice work on the strikes. I'm looking forward to taking our girls bowling when they're older. Hubby and I used to go bowling a bit before we had kids.

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  10. THe human brain is an amazing place! I love Kenny Powers - so funny!

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  11. My husband and I joined a bowling league a couple of years ago but the president embezzled all our fees and the league was closed. It's about the only sport I'd be capable of these days. Good on you for embarrassing the kids!

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  12. My next door neighbour has taken to listening to old 80's music. Every time I am outside hanging out the washing the song "Thriller" seems to come on! I may have done a bit of dance once or twice

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  13. Who also knew that you had to book before arrival for bowling???
    Pretty much every time I put the radio on an oldies station, I have waves of emotion due to the songs I listened to growing up. I am attaching new ones every day to the current music too.

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  14. You sound like such a fun mum, I'm sure I embarrass my kids now with how I add! Bowling is a hoot, and a nice family thing to do at night... they get very competitive.

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  15. A lot of the songs by Matchbox Twenty I only play when I'm on my own because the were my go to songs during a pretty shitty part of my life. They bring up bad memories, so I rarely play them anymore, despite really loving them.

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  16. I can't wait to embarrass my kid when he's a teenager! I love how music can take you back to a moment in time, especially when it leads to dancing in the kitchen:-)

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  17. Surely it's our job to embarrass our children. Great post x

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  18. Ah yes, the joy of embarassing our teens... my twins fancy a bowling party and my ears are ringing already. Too noisy an environment for me, I'm afraid... maybe they'll change their mini-minds. What I find weird aboyt memory is... that (I think) all the cells int he body might have changed a few times and yet the memory from donkeys years ago remains...w eird... and why do they pop up when they do, if music's not involved???

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