Mind games

"Keep playing those mind games, forever..." John Lennon

This morning I did more work for Hunchback before we leave for our trip next week, including driving to meet Marilyn W. at her house for an article that is being written up by the Eldredge Gazette. Marilyn is the 95-year-old lady that I met giving my talk to the Eldredge Historical Society a few weeks back on the history of the Elredge Players. As probably the only living person from the group around from that time, I pitched the newspaper on the idea of speaking with her, as a human interest story.

Marilyn was absolutely thrilled to be interviewed for the story, although she was a bit nervous about having the reporter and photographer coming to her house to talk to her. Fortunately, Corb and I arrived at her house a few minutes in advance of them and met with her and her home care provider. We were able to calm her down a bit.

The interview went well. Marilyn is an amazing person and has had quite a colorful life. She really only did the Eldredge Players until she married her husband, and then her life went into other directions as she had children. She was a waitress for many years and saved up enough money to go in with three other folks to play a plane and was one of the first female flyers with a license in the area, which is pretty amazing. 

Her memory is very good, for both past and present items, which isn't always the case (example: my parents). She is hard of hearing and vision impaired, and her responses do tend to stray--for example, she could answer a straightforward question about what she enjoyed better, performing in front of an audience or at the restaurant they would go to after the performance (where they would do the show again), but when I asked her to name some of the good times she had with the group, she tended to drift. She also remembered a lot of snatches of the Mikado, especially when I sang along with her. 

She did remark a few times on how funny memory is. So many things from the past she can remember clear as a bell, and she wonders why that is. She sang a song she learned when she was in grade school for us and wondered why she could recall al the words. 

I get this. Right now I have been doing a lot of work moving a lot of my hand written journals online, and I am impressed by how much I had forgotten, how oblivious I was to certain things that certainly would not have been socially acceptable now, and also, which memories clearly made an indelible mark. The answer: only ten percent of things, really. I am very grateful for my journal! 

That night, Corb and I went to a party Brit was holding for the vendors at Shiplap, which she held at the Waterfall, the infamous Karen Reed bar. Memory was brought up again, as one of the vendors, who likes to discuss martinis with me, mentioned Marilu Henner, who has a rare condition where she can remember with great accuracy most days of her life, starting from the average age of eleven. The scientific term for their unique condition is "hyperthymestic syndrome", more recently known as highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM). Oddly enough, just two days before that I was reading a short story by Jorge Luis Borges called Funes the Memorious, and had done research on HSAM, which led me to Marilu Henner. What are the odds?

Clearly the matrix universe is playing games with me. But I only hope I have even Marilyn's memory by the time I turn 95. Of even 85, for that matter. But at least I will have my journal to prompt me.