I remember nothing prior to 2009. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I really don't remember a lot of things. I was chatting with my High School roommate on Facebook yesterday (boarding school). She said something about how much fun we used to have making and delivering birthday cakes. What????? I do not remember this At All. Are you sure I was there? Apparently we sent order forms to all the parents and on their child's birthday we would bake a cake, deliver it and sing. We charged $20 and it cost us $2 to make the cake. Seriously? Wow. I was quite the entrepreneur. Too bad I don't remember any of it.

I remember bits and pieces from my childhood - I can tell you my 2nd grade teacher was sister Mary Alice. I can tell you my fourth grade teacher had some kind of disease that made her lower half giant and she could barely walk and I loved her - but I don't remember her name. I remember Miss Vance - that was her name when my brother and sister had her but by the time I got to her she had been married quite a few years - don't know her married name though.

I remember my childhood home. Lived there until I was 14 and I remember many of my friends from there. But I lack very specific memories of things we used to do. Again, bits and pieces of High School and College. After College the memories get a bit clearer. But still, there are a lot of things that I seriously could get up on a witness stand and say I do not recall and mean it. I never did mind altering drugs - so that does not explain any of it.

My kids know I have this memory issue. They like to tease me and say Mom remember when... I usually don't though sometimes something they say will spark a memory. Music brings back memories, so do TV shows. I know it's not just me - I have had these conversations with friends who have lost most of the memory of their early years. I wonder if that changes as we age. I can have a conversation with my MIL who can't remember what she did yesterday but will tell you about what happened at her birthday party in 1937. I met a neighbor last week - he is 87 and he gave me the whole history of my block, my house and places in town he has lived. It was fascinating - I asked him to come back on a a weekend when I had more time - I was running for the school bus - and I really wanted to hear his stories probably as much as he wants to tell them. I wonder if my lack of memory has to do with being so busy in the here and now that I don't have time for the past... maybe that will change when I am 80 years old and I can tell the neighbors some great stories - though there are some I would rather forget!

Cara's two cents: Wait what was I going to say? I forget...