It so happens that last month I forgot my best friend’s birthday. Small errands keep slipping off my mind on a day to day basis. Post its have hence been a regular in my bi-weekly shopping list. For those of you who are confused, this isn’t about me developing Alzheimer’s.

My right and left brain hemispheres dismiss many similar chores/duties/work as if they had a mind of its own. Ironic, eh? They are indeed my brain’s mind. I wonder if they had a role to play in what I remember and what I don’t. I will (perhaps) never forget the first time I held my Grandpapa’s hand (my Chordadu for those who know). Every time I cook something new, I remember my Mum’s smile when she first baked a cake. I go to the airport to this very day only to be reminded when my Daddy had to leave us to go for work. I watch the rain flood the streets on a holiday to find myself caught in a trance where me and my grandparents (Chordadu and Beuamma for the fortunate ones again) are having lunch together, with our legs spread out, on the floor, not on the dining table, implying I could overlook my table manners. Every summer I dream that I went to my cousins’ and am having so much fun that I burst into laughter even as I sleep. It is quite evident that I could go on and on..

Most people say you never forget the firsts. But aren’t the firsts just the beginning to many more cherishable moments. The same brain, that lives the moments, makes a choice to bring some of them back over and over again. They are involuntary; just like dreams. We don’t really get to customize our dream/moments that flash by as if by serendipity. I can’t help think that this is one of the vary many ways of our mind telling us what we really want, where we really belong.

Come to think of it, cheesy is the word referred to when we say something we desperately mean but are probably too cool to say. Well, I happen to think memories are cheesy; yes, a few of them. I have no shame in admitting that some memories are so cheesy that I end up embarrassing myself. However, they are the exact same ones that also make my smile see my tear.