On Making A Memory
[Featured in Positively Positive, August 2015] “Make choices to do things that you might remember.” Sage suggestion from dear friend Dr. Mark Hyman’s grandmother, shared with me on a gorgeous late-day summer hike a few weeks ago in the Berkshires to one of his favourite rivers. It was when I’d commented on the beauty of this hidden gem of a river that he’d offered that to us, and it’s sticking with me. “You might remember this river, this day” he said. He was right. The grass and branches crackling underfoot, the smell of the brush and the hush of the river just ahead. Then the feeling of the cold, clear water on my feet and the smooth dirt riverbed, then the sharper rocks as we walked; the sun slowly setting painting impossible lavender streaks across the sky. A moment I won’t forget. Another memory was made soon after that one, a moment that stung, then healed me. The other day my son asked me, “Can you just get happy, Mama?” (I was simmering an unnecessary sadness at the time.) He continued, “when you’re sad, I feel sad too. I can’t help it.” The memory of taking his cheeks in my hands and thanking him for …