a moment to remember

I am notoriously bad at remembering things per my friends and family. I mostly try to forget the bad, but many times I end up forgetting the good memories along with. I forget timelines of what happened and when. Sometimes I even forget that an event happened altogether. While this initially worried me, I’ve mostly settled into pleasant oblivion and have been just allowing myself to feel pleasantly surprised whenever someone jogs my very vague memory of the past.

I remember some things though. Almost 2 years ago when I had my bachelorette party, my friends played a really sweet (and hilarious game) where everyone would write down a memory they shared with me and put it into a drawing pile, and another friend or two would randomly select a memory and act it out. I would have to guess who the memory belonged to. I remember laughing my ass off when two friends from two very different parts of my life started swaying, backs turn to me, and shaking and showing off their hair. I didn't get it. Turns out they were acting out Claire’s memory of us “whipping our hair” and filming it slow-mo, but they didn’t understand the full-circle motion of the whip. You had to be there for it. Another memory that took me by surprise was when two of my friends pretended to throw something over their shoulders and then immediately afterwards got together and pretended to happily eat from a bowl. I didn't get that one either until Juliana stood up and said, “That was my memory. I remember the moment and the reason I decided you were going to be one of my good friends was when I lost my wallet one summer in college. We had just started living together but barely knew each other, and you would text me everyday before every meal to make sure I had money and food.” It took me by huge surprise because that memory did NOT make it into my brain storage system whatsoever – but you can be sure hearing it made me feel REALLY good. I remember thinking to myself wow, maybe this was how I was gathering my now amazing group of girl friends I am blessed to have in my life. Just by genuinely being a friend back.

I am sad and afraid to forget many things though. I’m always the one to suggest taking a group picture after every get together or dinner. People might think it’s just because I like pictures or its superficial and we should live in the moment off your phone or whatever. But it’s really because these pictures are the way I hold onto the good memories of the past, which I know one day I will be so grateful to have. Most of the pictures never make it out to social media or are seen again…but I have them :D

Today, I had a day off work on a random Wednesday. I decided to try to be productive and go to a coffee shop. Productive I was not. But around noontime I received a strange text from my husband “Wtf where’d you go.” (He’s currently a busy surgical resident so I assumed he was in the hospital accidentally texting the wrong person). He continues “Was gonna surprise you by stopping at home. And make you coffee. Such a waste.” I broke into a huge smile. My normally very frugal husband had ordered himself a new aeropress off Amazon and has been spending his free time watching youtube videos all-things-coffee with his newest obsession of becoming a coffee connoisseur (inspired by my other best friend, Ray). The gesture was sweet and full of child-like excitement. I decided to write a blog post to store away the moment. J