Remember When.....?

Family gatherings are such wonderful places for remembering. Yet it is always surprising to me as everyone is gathered round the table remembering happy times gone by, how much I have already forgotten. They remembered wonderful times, silly times, embarrassing times, of which had completely slipped out of my mind. Then there were the events in life that I remembered perfectly, and which other family members had inserted themselves into when they were never even there.

As I was leaning across the table mentioning to my cousin that it must be wonderful to have lived vicariously through other people, all the experiences with none of the expense or needing time off work. Since, the family members in question had never even done these things they remember doing, I guess that is better than forgetting, which is what I had done. He said a great way to recover lost life events was to just Google yourself and see what you may have done that is forgotten.

Arriving home, I couldn’t wait to Google myself and see what I had done in life that had so unfortunately slipped my mind. I was then astonished at how much. The first thing that popped up when entering my name was that I had been, a Medical Disability Program Specialist. Now I had always been very good at offering expert medical advice, but at some point in life I must have actually been in the medical field. Just that afternoon I had been telling my elderly aunts to make sure and take their Ginkgo Biloba because they could not possibly remember being in the stadium when Hulk Hogan threw me across the ring. I specifically remember only my husband and son promising they would post bail as the WWE police were hauling me out of the building. But maybe that’s why I couldn’t remember pursuing the medical field, because my career as a ringside wrestling fan proved to be much more interesting.

My next Google showed that I had been a tight end for the New York Giants as recently as 2006. Not remembering this did not surprise me. After all, football players take many blows to the head and that would explain my lack of recall. However, it did say that I had torn my ACL which explained my sore knee on my daily walks around the block. If my career was so short lived, involved multiple blows to the head, and an injured knee, then I was rather glad I had forgotten. Although, I did see that I have a brother that played defense for the Minnesota Vikings. I decided to look him up to connect with long, lost family, and maybe he could get me good tickets to a Saints game.

The most exciting Google was when I saw I had played professional hockey for the Long Beach Ice Dogs. Now I could definitely understand having so many blows to the head that I forgot that sport. But that would undoubtedly explain my hockey prowess which I have constantly been trying to impart to my son. Now he could no longer tell me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. But it also stated that I was five feet eleven and over 200 pounds. Thank goodness I didn’t find any pictures, or I would never live it down with my daughter. Apple fritters at Wal Mart would be completely off the menu if she saw that picture. The torn ACL must have been the reason for my loss of height, and several pairs of pants that were too long. But I couldn’t wait for the next Mudbugs game so I could give the coach a few really good pointers, now that I had the indisputable knowledge to do so. I know he will be so excited to get my expert advice.
After seeing all the things I had done that had completely slipped my mind, I looked at all my elderly aunts, uncles, and cousins in a whole new light. Maybe they weren’t as off the mark as I had originally thought. Maybe so many precious memories were always lost to the sands of time.
Listening to them talk, I leaned over and told my cousin that they had completely inserted themselves in so many things I didn’t remember them doing. He told me to help me remember maybe I should Google myself. I then told him that was a great idea. Then he said that I might want to start taking large doses of Ginkgo Biloba. And if that didn’t work, I could always Google again.