How Do You Make A Memory?

Have you seen the movie “The Parent Trap” –

either the Haley Mills version from my youth or the Lindsay Lohan update? In one scene, the California twin, masquerading as her sister, takes a long sniff of her grandfather’s jacket.

Startled, the pipe-smoking gentleman asks what she’s doing. “I’m making a memory,” she replies.

As a senior citizen, I have decades full of memories. My mother, who could neither swim nor ride a bike and was loathe to get sweaty, loved to ice skate. It isn’t so much her skating and twirling that I remember as the country blue shell with white ribbing that she wore on the ice rink. Blue was her color. We had a very blue house. She wore blue eye shadow all the way up to her eyebrows. But, first and foremost, blue makes me think of my very unathletic mother gliding around in her blue, skating jacket. What a lovely memory.

Now is the time to not only make memories of our grandchildren, but to help them make their own memories of us. Ubiquitous cameras can keep them supplied with photographs of their grandparents. However, it’s the aromas from our kitchens and the feel of our well-used hands that will bring us to mind, even when they’re adults. One of my grandmothers had hands that were small, strong and smooth. I can still “feel” them.

Let the kids spend time in your home. Share your treasures with them. A cherished scarf will hold the scent of your favorite cologne for a long time. Take them on adventures, near and far. Show them how to build a sandcastle in the local park and that will become the basis for how they teach their own children. Introduce them to your favorite sports, plays, menus. I had a grandfather who drank tomato juice, always pronounced with a short a. I drink tomato juice (alas, I pronounce it with a long a) whenever I’m in a restaurant for breakfast. I save that memory for special occasions.

We are constantly making memories of what our grandchildren say and do, of every performance (brilliant performance, of course) and how they look. Take some time to help them make lifelong memories of you, too.