seeing double
Lately I've been thinking a lot about memory. How mine is shot from the amount of information I cram inside it. The number of random kid's names I have etched in my brain takes up a lot of space alone. Sometimes I try so hard not to forget to do something that you do it twice without realizing. I've watched kids I know who are playing and having the time of their lives, yet in ten years they won't remember a thing about that day. Where do those thoughts go? Are they buried beneath a vast sea of knowledge compiled over years of life experience?
In draft 9 of 11:11, I have been making a lot of adjustments...far more drastic than before. One of the characters, Savannah, is the 'new girl' to this small town in Pennsylvania called Union and she teaches middle school art. Her father was originally from Union, lived on a farm until he was 17, until he left for college in Chicago. He became a doctor, got married, had a daughter, lost a wife, then lost his mind in a span of four decades. At age he was 60, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. His mind deteriorated rapidly the following two years, but he could always remember the farm house he grew up in. He had such vivid memories of that time in his life that Savannah decided to buy his old farm house and moved him there. That would be the most comfortable place to find his peaceful end and it's being in the middle of nowhere helped lesson the worries about him wandering off. Before they left the city, Savannah photographed every detail of his house, her apartment, his office, favorite restaurant, grocery store, laudromat.... she documented every element of his life so she could help with his memory.
I always carry a camera with me. You never know when you are going to have that moment where you need to get that perfect shot. It's so nice having the means of documenting time in history in a matter of milliseconds. Never again will you be able to relive that exact same moment again. Freezing time forever. Would we really remember what our fourth birthday was like? No. But when you look at photographs and see how happy you looked and how some of your little friends are now your big friends...or some people you simply can't remember at all. It's comforting to know we all have to start from (it's 11:11 right now!!!!) a low perspective, looking up at huge people and a gigantic world. As we grow older, our perspectives completely change. Eventually, the world starts to feel kind of small, like you are looking down where you used to look up from. Strange how the world is seen through so many different point of views. Like when I was young, my eyes were crossed so I had double vision. I saw two of everything. Sometimes I couldn't tell which was the real doorknob and reached for the wrong one. I was less than 5 years old then and that is one memory I will never forget. Funny how life comes full circle...I'm seeing double again. 11:11.
In draft 9 of 11:11, I have been making a lot of adjustments...far more drastic than before. One of the characters, Savannah, is the 'new girl' to this small town in Pennsylvania called Union and she teaches middle school art. Her father was originally from Union, lived on a farm until he was 17, until he left for college in Chicago. He became a doctor, got married, had a daughter, lost a wife, then lost his mind in a span of four decades. At age he was 60, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. His mind deteriorated rapidly the following two years, but he could always remember the farm house he grew up in. He had such vivid memories of that time in his life that Savannah decided to buy his old farm house and moved him there. That would be the most comfortable place to find his peaceful end and it's being in the middle of nowhere helped lesson the worries about him wandering off. Before they left the city, Savannah photographed every detail of his house, her apartment, his office, favorite restaurant, grocery store, laudromat.... she documented every element of his life so she could help with his memory.
I always carry a camera with me. You never know when you are going to have that moment where you need to get that perfect shot. It's so nice having the means of documenting time in history in a matter of milliseconds. Never again will you be able to relive that exact same moment again. Freezing time forever. Would we really remember what our fourth birthday was like? No. But when you look at photographs and see how happy you looked and how some of your little friends are now your big friends...or some people you simply can't remember at all. It's comforting to know we all have to start from (it's 11:11 right now!!!!) a low perspective, looking up at huge people and a gigantic world. As we grow older, our perspectives completely change. Eventually, the world starts to feel kind of small, like you are looking down where you used to look up from. Strange how the world is seen through so many different point of views. Like when I was young, my eyes were crossed so I had double vision. I saw two of everything. Sometimes I couldn't tell which was the real doorknob and reached for the wrong one. I was less than 5 years old then and that is one memory I will never forget. Funny how life comes full circle...I'm seeing double again. 11:11.
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