05/25/2026
What Makes a Memory?
Some thoughts for Memorial Day.
Scrapbooks are all about saving happy memories, right?
Not necessarily.
Everyone has a story, and a different style for how to tell it. In the most general terms, scrapbooking uses photos and embellishments to document our lives and relationships. But look at most scrapbooks and you’ll see plenty of emotions on those pages. The story really being told is about the relationships that matter — and the photos show details that usually stay with us throughout our lives.
“Remember wearing that goofy hat all winter?”
“I loved watching those dance recitals! It was worth all the rehearsals!”
“You and your dog were inseparable in the summers.”
But memories are found in more than scrapbooks. I recently had a friend give me a jar of buttons she found at a yard sale, and I could have cried… in my childhood, we had an almost identical button jar, which was brought out for every Parcheesi game so we could pick out four matching buttons to play the board game. The moments we could enjoy games with my dad and siblings were rare, and so precious. I didn’t know how precious until decades later, when Ann gave me the jar.
Another example spoke to me when I offered a guest some perennials from my yard. She declined, but then overheard me telling another guest how I’d taken the Rose of Sharon hibiscus bush from my parents’ home before it sold, to have a bit of them with me. Unexpectedly, the first guest changed her mind after hearing that story, and quietly mentioned her mother had loved hibiscus.
Some memories come with regret. It’s bittersweet to consider what “could have been” when we have lost someone. We cherish the good times we shared, but ache in the void we are left with. It makes the remembering painful, as we wish we could change the outcome.
Today’s holiday, Memorial Day, honors fallen service members. We are reminded of the sacrifices made for the cause of freedom. Some died heroically, some unjustly, some mysteriously; all politics aside, the end result is loss of life. Yet it is not uncommon to hear well-wishers, on this day of sales and time off from work, greet friends with “Happy Memorial Day.”
Today, perhaps instead of “happy,” we simply pause to remember. ❤️
