“Crystalline Memories”

“Why was it, she wondered, that great stretches of the past existed in her memory as only vague, contourless impressions, while those three moments had been preserved in every tiniest detail? Her school years were a blur; her early career years, a mere flavor; but those three moments remained as if encased in time-protective amber. In the first one, she was six years old and had just finished a walk through a strange, distant neighborhood (two actual blocks from her home). She stood near a drug store at the intersection of the city’s main street. And she was filled with wonder! In the second, she was eight and was being driven away from her local swimming pool after practice. The car stopped at a light and she looked over at the ice cream store. And she was filled with wonder! In the third, she was living in a foreign country, doing heavy, outside work since she could make money no other way. Feeling alienated, she paused to reflect on how she had arrived at that moment. And she was filled with wonder! Maybe, she now thought, her mind had grown very quiet at those moments and her awareness had transcended thought completely, allowing the just registered impression to be snapshotted forever.”