On September 21, my son was playing the song September by Earth Wind and Fire. He asked me if I knew the song, and I said, “Oh yes.” Here are some of the lyrics:
Do you remember, 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing
As we danced in the night . . . .
My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you . . . .
Remember
How we knew love was here to stay . . . .
You can find all the lyrics here: Lyrics to September by Earth Wind and Fire
Video for September Earth Wind and Fire
I have started writing what I dream about first thing when I get up, and this morning it happened again. I had a good dream during the night, and when I went to write about it, it just wouldn’t come back to me. Then this song popped into my head, especially when he said, do you remember?
Memory is such a funny thing. My 50-year-old son recently saw an oleander plant and he told me about when he was in preschool and he and his friends hid in an big oleander plant, and he couldn’t understand why the adults got upset with him because he knew he wouldn’t be eating the plant since he knew it was poison. He was four years old then. And he remembers that now.
I always thought that young children could remember more since their brains weren’t all filled up with a lifetime of experiences yet. So maybe I am just running out of room to store things. I know now though that I do want to remember precious experiences. And I have learned that the process of writing down what I want to remember is a great way to deal with that. When I write out a memory, I know longer must rely on my over-filled brain to retrieve that memory I want to think about. I find comfort in knowing that I can just turn to what I write whenever I want to, and the memories come right back.
The more details I put when my writing my memories, the more vivid they become. I can go back now and look at things I wrote in my journal and see the intensity of my feelings then while also feeling the significance of how far I have come. The things I wrote led me to teach others dealing with grief and loss to write to deal with what they are experiencing and led me to write my book. Writing your memories is a powerful method of self-care. And after you write them, you can choose to do what you wish with what your write.
Reading my own memories that I recorded in my journal, always bring me back to love: the love I have for my loved owns who died and the love I have for the people I guide to write their own memories.
In answer to the questions “Do you remember?” my answer is that I hope you do. Write down those special memories today before they fade from those crowed corners of your mind.
You can order Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief by clicking here at Amazon.
I would be happy to put you on the reminder list for or Writing Together Through Grief occurring on Saturdays each week by sending an email to me to emily@lovingandlivingyourwaythroughgrief.com and giving me your email address.
Join my Facebook group here.
