Experience vs Memory

Dear Diary,

Every year at this time I take out the carnival glass pieces from my dear Auntie to decorate my fall table.  This year I have a quilted piece that my mother made for my sister-in-law years ago.  She gave it to me when I visited my brother and her in September...material memories I call them.  I have a lot of these sorts of objects.  Each opens up a memory which is very precious to me.

A fellow contemplative photographer, Kim Manley Ort, wrote a very thought provoking post the other day about the difference between an experience and the memory of it.  One would naturally think the experience is more important than the memory of it but after reading the post I see that memory in some respects has more of an impact on our lives as it lasts so much longer than the experience.

After the experience we mull over it in our minds and “harvest” the most important parts.  These we carefully store in our pantry of memory where we can go and take it down off the self and enjoy it again and again in the years ahead.

Deep down what most people want are good memories. They want a story of their life that has meaning. - Kim Manley Ort

We have two parts of us, the experiencing self and the remembering self, and each plays a part in forming who we are.  The little vintage turkeys recall all my afternoons antiquing with my cousins or our favorite Saturday activity, "sale-ing"...that's our catch phrase for going to yard or tag sales.  Some of these turkeys were purchased at yard sales.

I am off today to have a lovely couple of days with my dear friend Karen down in Massachusetts.  We will have some great experiences I'm sure.  I will record some in this journal.  But on Tuesday night when I return I will be left only with the memories.  In the end, that is all we are left with.  So, live the experience to the fullest and savor the memory for the rest of your life.

If you want to read Kim's post, it is here....