The telling of a story is what solidifies the memory especially since the more you tell it, the more detailed your story becomes. Reminiscing with family and friends can transform even the most stressful situations into funny anecdotes and new experiences into the best of times. Just compare thoughts of a painful experience DAYS afterward and then WEEKS later. In days, the agony is still fresh, but after a few weeks, you are able to laugh and make light of things. The experience is the same only your memory of it has changed.
Our recent vacation to the northern lakes of Arkansas provided many memories to savor. We did a lot of boating, swimming, and even some cliff jumping (as shown here). The cliff jumping, in particular, caused me great worry at the time as I was sure they’d hit their heads on a rock and plummet to their deaths. Nothing that dramatic happened, of course, and now those worries seem quite amusing.
Yet, watching them leap from those cliffs the first few times, I was spouting the typical mom-isms, “Be careful!”, “No diving or doing flips!”, and “Watch where you’re jumping so you don’t break your neck!” The boys grudgingly settled for jumping (a concession I finally agreed to) and I bit my tongue hard each time they leapt off the rocks into the watery depths below.
Hearing our boys tell their own stories of our vacation (especially the cliff jumping), I laugh seeing how incredible those memories are to them. Thankfully, they leave out the part about me freaking out at first!
Our recent vacation to the northern lakes of Arkansas provided many memories to savor. We did a lot of boating, swimming, and even some cliff jumping (as shown here). The cliff jumping, in particular, caused me great worry at the time as I was sure they’d hit their heads on a rock and plummet to their deaths. Nothing that dramatic happened, of course, and now those worries seem quite amusing.Yet, watching them leap from those cliffs the first few times, I was spouting the typical mom-isms, “Be careful!”, “No diving or doing flips!”, and “Watch where you’re jumping so you don’t break your neck!” The boys grudgingly settled for jumping (a concession I finally agreed to) and I bit my tongue hard each time they leapt off the rocks into the watery depths below.
Hearing our boys tell their own stories of our vacation (especially the cliff jumping), I laugh seeing how incredible those memories are to them. Thankfully, they leave out the part about me freaking out at first!
