I’m experimenting with ways to recall my own memories, and to make it slightly more interesting than slogging through chronologically. One of those experiments I published a couple of days ago, where I enumerated some foods I remembered eating before I turned ten years old.
I ended up posting the same content directly to Threads (since links seem to get down-ranked), and doing so caused an unintended but very welcome side-effect: someone replied with a specific memory of their own along with a question that helped me to recall another of mine.
Without stating the town in which my memories had taken place directly, I’d included details that would make it obvious to anyone who either recognized or researched the places I’d referred to. I don’t know how the post got in front of this person, but I’m glad that it did, because they were clearly from the town that I’d grown up in.
Still crave Grays herbal tablets from the sweet shop on the Corn Market. What was your vending machine snack after swimming at Sansome Walk? Scampi flavour fries for me.
Immediately, memories that I hadn’t thought about in years came flooding into my brain. Sansome Walk Leisure Centre was the local public pool in my hometown, and I went there more times than I could count growing up. We’d take the coach there from primary school for swimming lessons, and I’d go there with my father frequently.
There was the memory of the snacks I’d get from the vending machine, sure, but that wasn’t the only gift that this question had given me. I remembered the songs we’d sing on the coach on the way there (Charlie had a pigeon, a pigeon, a pigeon…), how difficult I found learning to swim, and how much I loved going to Sansome Walk regardless.
I hope that by sharing these small memories, I helped this person to recall fond memories of their own. I know that by sharing their own memories in return, I was given a wonderful, unexpected gift. I googled it after to find photos, and it made something stir deep in my stomach. I was taken right back to those days at the pool, and I loved it.
Write down your memories and put some of them out there. You might be surprised with how it makes you feel to sit with them for a moment. You might get to surprise someone else. If you’re lucky, you might get a gift from a stranger that makes you feel something.