I Remember.

People often tell me that I have really good memory. I don’t know why that is but I seem to remember a lot of the things I see or hear. I don’t really tell myself to remember… I just do. I actually think I remember the things I see and hear better than the things I read. For example, when I am in a room listening to someone talking, I can almost always remember what they say even if I just hear something in passing. This seems to amaze Steve a lot.

My brother, JR, is also good at remembering things although he and I don’t always remember the same things. While I am good at remembering details like where things are located in a building and what color an object is or what the place looked like, or processes, he is good at remember titles and lines and names. Every time I go, “hey, do you remember from which movie it is where …” or when I go, “hey, what’s the name of the actor/actress/character again in that movie …” he always knows that answer. He’s awesome at it. I think he’ll win big money on those trivia game shows on TV.

I, for one, can remember if I made a left or a right in a certain area. I can go into a building and remember the turns I make. For example, I remember where stores are located in a mall. I can tell which entrance to go into that is nearest the store you want to go to. I can go into a building and tell you what we passed and what turns we need to make to get out the way we came in. The best way I can describe what it’s like… when I pass an area, my brain seems to take a mental picture of what I see and in some weird way, it begins creating a map in my head. The more often I go to a place, the better this map gets until it comes to a point where I can look at it from the top view or any direction I want. You know those directories/maps you see when you enter a building? It’s kinda like that in my head. I’m good with immediately remembering and making mental directions when it comes to buildings and structures but I am not as good with roads. Steve is better at it. He can drive to a place and remember which roads he took and can always easily figure out how to make our way back. I would easily get lost if I were the one behind the wheel.

Another thing that Steve’s memory is great at, he is insanely good at remembering anything that has to do with history… he remembers dates, names of prominent people and events. He’s awesome with anything that has to do with politics, history and business… he also rocks at geography. All areas I suck at basically. I am particularly bad with geography. How bad? Pretty bad actually. You can ask me where a country or place is located in the map and I will tell you I have no idea. I will most likely look at a world map and spend a long time locating it. I do not remember president’s names, capitals, and historic events. Don’t even ask me about historic dates. It’s like asking a child to give you the full anatomy of a human body. In which case, you will probably be met with a helpless, bewildered, and pitiful look. I am horrible at it.

But ask me where your sister said she was going on Friday, ask me who your cousin said she saw at the party last week, ask me for directions on how to find a store in the mall, which subway stop is nearest to the place you’re heading, ask me what color a certain object is and ask me to describe to you what the place looked like and I will give you the answer. I can even act like a tape recorder and tell you exactly what was said during the conversation. I remember random scientific facts too.

All I need is to see something once or hear it once and I will most likely remember. Of course, this is not to say I will remember absolutely everything since I don’t try to remember things intentionally. I just happen to remember bits and pieces or the whole thing without intending to. I also have no control over how long that memory will stay. My parents always tell me and my brothers how amazed they are that we can remember things that happened when we were very young…when they thought we were too young to remember or understand. I can still remember the weekends we spent at Tito Noel’s rest house… I can remember the house had a big balcony with hardwood floors where JR and I would play with our Matchboxes (toy car brand) and sometimes we would run and slide with our slippers. I can tell you that I remember Tito Bobby carrying JR and I across water that had a lot of Jellyfish in it and that I cried when he put me down in the water because I was terrified of Jellyfish.

There also things I should remember or should have remembered but I don’t. I don’t know how my brain decides on what to remember and what to forget. I sometimes recall things out of the blue and I don’t know why I forgot about it for such a long time. I don’t know why I forget some of the things that are important and remember the mundane, irrelevant details of something else.

It’s all weird how my memory works and sometimes there are certain memories that are a bit fuzzy that I can’t be sure if it really happened or not. I dread the day when my memory begins to fade. I don’t want to forget all the wonderful memories I have.