As a writer, I am also a reader of many things. I believe reading is where many of us find our sparks of inspiration.
I suppose I have long been of a somewhat nostalgic persuasion; when I look back on so many of the "sharpest" memories I have, there's almost always a certain sadness attached to them.
And so, I was reading some comments about a movie, and it made me realize how different people can be in their perception of the same experience.
And then there was this one comment: "there are memories that you look back on and they seem so intense and so special that the original experience almost doesn’t even seem real."
It made me think about someone I once knew with whom I shared a breathtakingly intense connection for a very short time... even though "nothing happened"... and then we went our separate ways and... disappeared.
I look back on it, and it doesn't feel real; or like it happened in another dimension.
As I said, nothing happened, but when we parted ways she said "there is without doubt some dimension in which you and I are are a scorching couple."
We were each beholden to other people, at the time. I was 24; she was 23.
It has been over 35 years, and I find myself wondering why those particular moments are burned permanently into my memory banks, but I can barely remember now deceased family members I knew for decades.
I tried to write it off as a particularly severe example of limerence, but was it?
About 20 years ago I was returning to Austin, Texas from a three-week visit back to Denmark. The return flight took me from Copenhagen to Amsterdam; then a flight from Amsterdam to New York, and then on to Austin.
Well, there was a problem with the plane in Amsterdam, and American Airlines didn't have another on the ground anywhere nearby, so we were all shuttled to a nearby hotel for the night.
Standing in line, a couple of conversations started up, and group of nine of us — total strangers — decided to catch a train into Amsterdam to have dinner and look around. Perhaps not so amazing, in and of itself.
The thing that was so surreal was the odd immediate connection between this motley assemblage of people: a 40-ish Dane living in Austin (myself), a 30-ish dentist from San Antonio, an insurance executive from Berlin, a college student from Florida, a drifter from Italy, an actress/model from Russia, a programmer from Israel who was — incidentally — also going to Austin to meet her online boyfriend for the first time; a 20-something Norwegian skateboarder and a young Army wife returning from a visit to her husband stationed in Germany.
Awkward? Nope. Within an hour you'd have thought we were all the oldest and closest friends.
A couple of decades later, and I still see their faces clearly and remember all the places we went in Amsterdam, that night.
And yet? There is an element to it that feels more like a dream. But I know it wasn't. I even changed my connection from New York to Austin so Rachel (the programmer) and I could be on the same flight there.
I suppose the lesson here — if there is a "lesson" — is that we must treasure the amazing experiences we sometimes have, particularly when they feel "outside reality." And, occasionally, we get to take them out, dust them off, and look at them again.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about you? Have you particular memories that stand "sharply" above all others? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2024.02.20 01:07PST
x702/1937
I can very much relate to such experiences and how they really do hold the memory of being almost dream like. I suppose perhaps it has something to do with energy and sometimes... regardless of how little we may know the other person or people, there is a connection so loud it is impossible to ignore...
... and then also, I will add - isn't it strange how so often, it is these "intense" dream like moments in our lives that grab at us WHOLE... never seem to last?! lol - They always seem to be rather fleeting, as if they were only ever intended to last for a flicker of time. Though often we would likely protest in defense of them remaining for all time haha!
A useless observation, lol - but an observation nonetheless. :D
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Sweetie, your observations are never useless; I'm always grateful for them.
I suppose I think about these things because the human experience fascinates me, both from the perspective of living it, as well as studying it in some vain hope of understanding things that perhaps defy understanding.
Intense connections are so... strange and magical. But what happens?
I was on a short flight from Dallas to Austin, Texas many years ago — it's about a 30 minute flight — and there was this flight attendant doing the "rush" beverage service; we exchanged a glance and our hands touched briefly when she handed me my beer because there was a moment of turbulence and it was like one of those "movie moments" that make us think "that could NEVER happen" and yet we wish it would.
More for the sake of the experience than necessarily any real outcome.
Whether I am nuckingfutz for remembering it all these years later is less the point than what is happening in such moments? If we're all basically energy, does the world have this tiny number of people whose frequency matches our own absolutely perfectly, REGARDLESS of whether we're compatible with them, in a real and tangible sense?
I'm rambling, and it's late, around these parts.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank youuuuuuuuu :D
I think we both share that level of fascination!
I would go with... probably, yes :)
Night night!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
TEAM 1
Congratulations! This comment has been upvoted through steemcurator04. We support quality posts , good comments anywhere and any tags.Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you, friend!
I'm @steem.history, who is steem witness.
Thank you for witnessvoting for me.
please click it!
(Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses and type fbslo at the bottom of the page)
The weight is reduced because of the lack of Voting Power. If you vote for me as a witness, you can get my little vote.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit