Filler

What if someone remembered everything you didn’t and nothing more? Let’s say you’re walking down the street on your way to your car, parked not too far away. You’re leaving the store and heading home. Nothing important is really going on, nothing happened in the store and you’re thinking about what you want or need to do once you’re home. You see a couple kids playing with some toys while their mother stands aside talking on the phone. They’re cute kids. The moment is fleeting; it means nothing to you or your day and will provide nothing good or bad in your life. It’s filler. What if the filler, though, was the only part of your day you ever remembered? A week later you remember those kids, that little old man hobbling around, that woman carrying too many shopping bags, the guy yelling into the cell phone, the group of teenagers smoking outside the mall, the dogs sticking their heads out a car on the freeway, but nothing else. You don’t remember the important moments, holidays, weekends, movies with your significant other, dinner with your family, playing with your own animals. Your family might surround you and take care of you and you remember them vaguely, but that’s nothing compared that little boy’s cute pumpkin shirt you saw at the bookstore. That memory is crisp and clear and perfect.