I’ve always had this weird memory for dates, and when things happened. I don’t know why or how it works, but if I can remember one or two details about it, I can put the rest of them together. So my mom just called and we had the following exchange:
Mom: I have an odd question for you- How old are Charlie’s kids?
Me: Uhh… who is Charlie?
Mom: Your cousin?? (In my defense, I know I have a cousin Charlie, but I’ve met him exactly once in 31 years and so it wouldn’t immediately occur to me that that would be who she was talking about)
Me: Oh, um…..
Mom: How long has Chrissy been married? (Chrissy is Charlie’s sister, and I met Charlie at her wedding)
Here is where the wheels start clicking in my brain.
Me: [thinking to myself “Well, I was driving Rusty when she got married… I drove Rusty from June ’99 to March ’00… she got married in July….”] She got married in July of ’99, so… 8 years. And I think Charlie’s kids were like, 8 and 11… so that would make them like, 16 and 19 now?
Mom: Okay, thanks. Bye.
In thinking about it, I can now also remember what I wore, the craziness of the day getting ready, where I parked, what I gave them as a wedding gift, what the cake looked like, that Chrissy got cake up her nose and in her eye (and was really steamed about it) and the fact that the first (and I think only) time I ever drank Goldschlager was at that wedding, with Charlie. Oh, and the wedding favors my aunt designed just popped into my head too.
It’s not weird. It’s called an association. Except that my mind works exactly the opposite, in that I use weddings as landmarks to figure out which Volvo I was driving at the time. 🙂