I was in an auto shop yesterday talking with a woman when she said “Datsun z.” Millions of brain cells fired and I was zapped with a memory I hadn’t had in many years – my friend’s rickety and stoopid fast Datsun 260z.
How Paul got it I don’t remember, but I’m sure it involved malfeasance. We were pretty crazy then. But I do remember it as being incredibly unsafe, even for 1986 used-car standards. At around 45 mph is started shaking wildly, but leveled out at around 55. It would hit 80 in seconds. For giggles he used to aim it at the top of blind hills in San Pedro and punch it. It was like a launch commitment, because once he hit it, there was no turning back. There were airborne moments, yells, laughs and weightlessness, you know. I’m not sure if there was actually fear or if I’m just filling in the blanks with how I’d feel about doing that today.
It was a thrill being hit with the memory, so I Facebooked my friends that I’m looking for more memories, and a few people chimed in.
One friend remembered my windsurfing to Catalina and back. I don’t remember doing that, and doubt seriously if I had. But Melissa jarred another memory, that of my brother Bryan not listening to my instructions on how to sail, and being brought back by the Coast Guard. More memories cascaded in – those sails used to hang on my ceilings, covering entire rooms. I used to use them as blankets. I remember once having the windsurfing rig on top of my car, roped up there carelessly, and once up to speed it turned and I jousted a parked van with the fiberglass mast, removing his mirror. I wouldn’t have remembered that if it weren’t for Melissa bringing that up.
A college roommate of mine remembered that I’d seen him driving in tent stakes with a rubber mallet, and I said, “Why don’t you try using a pillow.” I don’t remember saying that, but his memory trigged another. We were in a bar, and these dudes sat at our booth – real drunk dudes. One guy gestured that he was going to smash a beer bottle against his forehead. He did, and blood poured from his face. Chris back-flipped out of the booth like a young Romanian gymnast. I couldn’t believe it. But what I remember most now is how Chris calmly looked around over his shoulder when the guy first mentioned smashing the bottle. I didn’t put that together then but it’s clear to me now.
Kelly remembered us trying to climb a brick chimney with a 15-pound grappling hook I made in 8th grade metal shop. The chimney busted. I don’t remember that, but I remember one morning waiting for the school bus in the fog. I saw Kelly walking toward us in the distance, first a silhouette, then a form, and then him clearly wearing the exact same K-Mart jacket I had gotten the night before and proudly wore myself. I remember the look on his face, and I remember feeling as if I’d let him down, though neither of us knew our mothers had bought the same jackets. I don’t know if I felt that then, or if, again, I’m filling in the blanks.
My brain is changing, and more often memories are triggered like jolts of electricity, and it feels like a drug. A great drug! And I feel like these memories are richer now, either because on one level I’ve forgotten the details for so long that when they return it’s really cool. Or again, I’m filling in blanks with an imagination that’s gotten better.
So try it. Exchange stories with your friends and see if you get zapped with memories, or stories people tell about you that you don’t remember. Have fun, and share some memories.
