Taking A Trip Down Memory Lane
Getting older can be lonely. Trips down memory lane are fun but also bittersweet. Realizing there are more years behind you than in front of you inspires reflection and introspection. It also encourages you to make the most of each moment and opportunity you are blessed with.
I have been sorting through old pictures for a project our kids gifted us with for Christmas 2024, a memory recording kit. My husband and I each record answers to questions about our life and the company makes a memory book. You have the option of adding photos to the story. Each page has a written summary accompanied by a QR code. When the reader clicks on the code, they can see the video you recorded. It’s a cool concept.
Uncle Speedy
There was a stack of photos from my first birthday party. My mom was smiling at me opening the presents and digging into the birthday cake. Knowing my dad, he was probably taking the pictures. A man was standing behind me in some of the pictures. I thought it was my grandfather, my dad’s father, but the back of the photo was labeled “Uncle Speedy.”
I remember the name more than I remember the person. When we bought Christmas presents, I always chose a pair of socks for him. Every year. So strange. (I also picked linen handkerchiefs for our school bus driver, Mrs. Raider, at the end of each school year).
But, back to Uncle Speedy. Who exactly was he? For a millisecond, I thought I should ask my mom or dad who he was. Then I remembered, I can’t. They are gone. They can’t answer my questions anymore.
My dad has one sister still living. I may have to call her just to satisfy my curiosity.
Who Shares My Memories?
As I sorted through the pictures, especially the ones from my early childhood, I realized there is no one left who shares my memories. No one can be a part of a conversation that begins with “hey, remember when . . . ?” My parents are gone, my aunts and uncles are gone, and my brother and cousins are all younger than me.
It’s such a strange feeling—no one knows all my memories.
I have second and third cousins older than me who I can reminisce with, but no immediate family. I’m the oldest, the matriarch. Yikes!
But I don’t feel up to the title. I’m still the little girl in the ballet costume, the teenager sporting the latest 70s fashions, and the young mom taking her kids to school. Certainly NOT the matriarch!
Wisdom From The Word
Maybe that’s why God urges us to look forward, not back. His word tells us to remember the past both to learn from it and to recognize how richly He has blessed us, but not to dwell on the past. And certainly not to pine for the romanticized past like so many did. We are to press on to what is ahead.
Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Proverbs 4:25 (NIV)
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV)
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV)
A Lesson From My Grandmother
My grandmother lived to be ninety-eight. She talked about her past often, both the good old days and the not-so-good old days. All but one of her four sisters died before her, so she didn’t have anyone who shared her memories either. It’s interesting that the stories she told again and again became part of our family lore. Even though we weren’t alive in her past, we shared in her memories.
I wonder if the same thing will happen with my grandchildren. What stories will become a part of our family lore? Maybe that’s the way we keep our memories alive—sharing the stories that make our lives. I think I’ll tell them about my Uncle Speedy and how I used to give him socks every Christmas.
Kim Wilbanks 