Snapshot

You know how your mind wanders when you are driving. I began to play a game a few days ago in the car and now I am addicted to it; try to set up your memory in snapshot form, picking “glimpses” of your most profound memories and set them up in a “photo album” for easy access. Here are some of mine:
________________________

The sight of my first son curled up under the heat lamp after he was born.

My first son’s eyes peering just over the buckle of the car seat when we took him home.

The sound of my second son’s first cry after he was born.

The feeling in the car I had when we were on our way to the Bed & Breakfast & I said to myself “You just got married.”

The conversation that took place while trying to coax coffee out of a vending machine at the Funks Grove rest stop in the middle of Illinois during a snow storm that went like this –
“So do you want to get married?”
“Yep”
“OK… let’s get back in the car, I’m freezing.”

The sight of white caps frozen in place on the lakefront in Chicago.

A drug dealer doing an exchange on the corner while we waited for the light to change in Savannah.

Sitting on the end of the pier on Tybee Island watching the sunrise.

Walking down my driveway & nearly having a heart attack when a deer that was bedding down in the brush about a foot away from me jumped up & took off.

The first time I heard a bobcat scream.

The sight of my grandfather covered in bees when he was getting honeycomb out of a stump.

The sinking feeling when I realized that my mom had moved my stash of dirty magazines that I thought was well hidden.

My grandmother asking if we had enough to eat.

The respect I felt when shaking a man’s hand after listening to him speak about crawling through 700 yards of dead bodies in Cambodia just live in freedom.

The desperate look in a child’s eyes that was sitting on the check out counter when he told a store clerk that he knew he didn’t have that long to live because of his disease.

The devastated look on that same child’s mother’s face when he said that.

The thank you I got after I gave a soldier with massive face wounds ten dollars at Ryan’s steak house when walking out, saying to him “Lunch is on me, thank you for your service.”

The sigh of relief I gave after my wife told me she was pregnant & I realized that it was hormones and I wasn’t going to have to have her committed.

The few hours I spent alone in the woods damming up a creek during Christmas vacation when I was in elementary school.

The feeling of fear I had as we watched an arrow hit the ground just a couple of feet behind a guy cutting his grass after my cousin shot it straight up in the air.

Saying to myself, “I’m sure he’s following the two-pump limit on those BB guns.” After getting hit in the cheek from about 60 yards by Dean during a BB gun war.

The “oh shit” realization that we had left everybody tied up to trees when we ran after the gunfire started when a guy was shooting down through the woods because we were trespassing.

The sound the green ghost game made.

Smashing in the face of the Johnny west guy after it had melted from lying in the sun all afternoon.

The pain I felt after nose diving into the ground the first time I went over a ramp on a bicycle. (I didn’t know you had to pull up on the handlebars)

Trying to walk straight when passing my father after my first round of gin.

The hysterical laughter after I asked the good looking girl at church if she would go to the prom with me.

The look of fear in the guys eyes after I beat his ass for knocking all my books out of my hand while going up the stairs in highschool.

Looking down and seeing the speedometer pointed straight down about an inch past the last number, after the blue lights appeared behind me.

The smell of the salt marsh.

Watching the bicycle lock attached to four feet of chain fly through the air just before it took out my brother. (Perfect headshot)

Digging the BB out of my scalp after getting hit right on the top of my head.

The feel of the worms still attached to the fishhook stuck in my head, after my cousin hit me with it while casting.

The sound & feel of handcuffs being put on me.

The smell of Mark’s cigar the night my Dad passed away.

The look on my niece’s face after I told her to put urine on the jelly fish sting, then the look on her face after the life guard said I wish I had some urine when she ran up to him for help.

The girl in the backseat of the Malibu saying, “It’s a boob” trying to break my stare.

The smile on my son’s face after hitting his fourth straight bullseye once I had zeroed in the scope.

The look on the cops face when we woke him up in the cul de sac by pulling straight up to the side of his car with our lights on bright.

The smell of the wood smoke from the barbecue pit.

My great aunt saying "He comes ta easin' 'round the coner"

The Irish guy saying "Aye, Johnathon Patrick is a good strong name"

The intermingled skeletons of the snake that died while eating the 'possum.
________________________

The trick is to make the memories flow nonstop without interruption, you should try it, its fun.