Time Travel
From my couch, I can stare at the picture of my grandma’s house.
I can pretend I’m back there on Borbeck.
Is this how time travel works?
How does memory work for you?
Can you remember whole days? Close your eyes and remember entire conversations?
How much continuous memory can you have at a time?
Is it like time travel?
Or are you like me — do you remember things in slices?
The toys under the dining room hutch.
The big table with blue and white dishes.
A column between the living room and dining room – perfect for leaning.
Aunts and Uncles and cousins filling the living room with the glow of big Christmas Lights on the tree in the corner?
M&Ms and ice cream served with pretzels.
The way the sidewalk led down to the garden shed.
The sound of the porch.
The azaleas.
The shelf in the corner with photo albums.
The saltines in the canister on the kitchen counter – cookies were sometimes in the next canister over.
And oh – the chalkboard in the kitchen.
I had to stand on the vinyl chairs underneath, but once I was up there…?
Oh that chalkboard.
It was meant for chores, I think. A leftover from the 10 children household.
But to me it was a place to draw, to list important things, to play school.
I can’t travel back in time,
but I can sit on the couch and stare at the picture of my grandma’s house.
On a Thought 
Oooo. This post has all the feelings. Memories are little heart warmers, aren’t they?😍
I also remember things in slices 🙂 I like how you compared revisiting this memories to time travel. It’s amazing what a picture or a song can remind you of. Here’s to happy memory slices!
…these* not this 🙂 Not sure how to edit?
Love this. I have been writing mini memoirs with my students. And reading adult memoirs as well. The idea of how memories come to us is fascinating. One has to do some serious research to fill in those blanks. Nikki Grimes spoke of the research she had to do for her memoir. I think memories are like poetry. Images and feelings. Much like your post.
Oh, I adore this. I can and visualize it all. These slices are poignantly told. I think it is a type of time travel for the soul.
I’ve been drawn to slices about memories and working through some of my own this year. Thank you for sharing. I love the format of this!
This is so awesome. i also remember in slices. reading your memories initiated even more memories of that 318 home…for some reason the wooden stairs to the basement, always a little creaky, sometimes a little scary. thanks for the memories Ona
Those creaky, scary stairs! I might need another whole blog post about that basement … and always wondering if Uncle Tom was going to jump out to freak all the cousins out!