Today has been a day of memories, for I’ve been down in Mission Viejo helping my stepmother sort through stuff.
The drive down was interesting. Both the 5 and the 405 were bolluxed up, so I took the 110 and got off at Del Amo. I then drove the length of Del Amo, through the industrial parks of Long Beach, the white-bread city of Lakewood, some ethnic enclaves in Orange County (as the road turns into La Palma), through Buena Park, next to Knotts Berry Farm, back to the 5. Quite an interesting drive.
After getting down here, I’ve been doing more memory sorting. I’ve looked at photo albums from when my folks got married, seen material from 1950’s Las Vegas, seen pictures of me in high school, seen pictures of me in college, seen past dates (not all were quite girlfriends), and seen pictures of my wife and I before I got married. When I spoke to her later in the day, I thanked her for teaching me to dress decently! Looking at how I dressed back then (and even taking into account it was the late 1970s)…. well, if Stacey and Clinton had been around back then, I would have had a VISA in my hand really fast.
I’ve also spent a lot of time talking to my stepmother, hearing her stories of my dad and their relationship. I’m really glad that his last relationship was a good one. It really does appear that after my brother died, my father’s relationship with my mother was strictly a business arrangement. I’ve also come to realize over the last few weeks that I was really close with my dad (this is good), and never really close with my mom. Interesting insights.
Hence, the title of this post, and the following closing words:
Mem’ries may be beautiful and yet
What’s too painful to remember we simply choose to forget
So it’s the laughter we will remember
Whenever we remember the way we were.
