memories

isn't strange how a simple smell, word, texture, feeling or location can trigger a trip down memory lane at a time we least expect it?

this has happened to me twice in the last week, which I thought was strange.

the first time it happened i was walking out of the house and getting the boys in the van. one of my nearby neighbors was burning a fire in their fireplace (which at this time of the year is a regular occurrence.) the odor of the burning wood took me back more than 15 years to a 6 weeks span when i was living in a Bosnian refugee camp in Croatia during their civil war. like i said, my neighbor burns fires often and the odor has never before made me think of anything other than "man, I wish we had a fireplace." (that's another entry for another time.) but on this particular afternoon, i was taken back for a few moments to my high school days when 3 of my closest friends and one of my brothers went to Gasinci. I remember some of the tangible aspects of the trip....the food, the living conditions, the actual camp, etc. but those thoughts quickly changed to people's faces. people who had been displaced by war. people who had seen the tragedy of war in a way this teenager from "the rough streets of Dunwoody" could not comprehend. i remembered people i met on that trip who i have become distant memories as well as people who i still know today. on a day when the last thing i thought i would be thinking about was a refugee camp in Gasinci, i found myself praying for people who i have not thought about in more than a decade. i hope that all these years later those friends have found a new life of joy wherever they landed.

the second memory was a little less heavy for me. i was driving to work and heard an ad on the radio for a product i had not thought of since i was a kid. the product is called Malt-o-meal and it's a granulated wheat product you boil in water and then add flavors to for a warm and hearty breakfast. my mom used to make this for my brothers and me on cold mornings. she would add a little milk and some brown sugar. i had Wendy pick up a box when she went to the store this weekend and last night, i made some. i made the batch last night to see if i could make it the way i remembered it. i followed the simple directions and added the previously mentioned milk and brown sugar. as i lifted the spoon to my mouth, there was a deja vu type moment for me and i was briefly taken back to those chilly mornings when my mom would make us breakfast. one taste of the cereal and I was in a full time travel moment induced by food. i felt like i was a kid again sitting at the table in the kitchen near "THE RUG" horsing around with my brothers. we would finish eating, then finish our chores and it was off to school. "off to school" meant we met in the living room for school with mom since we were all home schooled. (again, another blog opportunity for later.) after Wendy's laughter brought me back to the here and now, we enjoyed a few bites of the warm cereal and vowed to make it for breakfast, which i did this morning.

may your lives not be so rushed that when a fond memory is sparked you allow it to fade and go out, but rather fan that thought for a moment and see what joy may be ignited inside you.