January 25, 2013

"As she struggled to reclaim her memory, Shawnda discovered she had been a life-long keeper of journals."

"She found them stashed in a box in the spare bedroom... She had taken meticulous notes on her entire life."
Shawnda learned of her troubles with her husband and read in detail about all the pain and depression she had lived through the past several months, and then forgotten. She read of people in her life who were now like characters in a novel she was starting from the middle.

12 comments:

rhhardin said...

You never know when you'll need to look yourself up.

Hence comments.

Freeman Hunt said...

This makes you never want to write down any complaints. Your future amnesic self doesn't need that business.

Paul Sand said...

I thought for a second this was The Great Gatsby quote of the day.

m stone said...

Good comment Freeman. Or speak complaints for that matter.

As horrific as this condition it, it can't possibly be as bad as anterograde amnesia, the short-term permanent loss variety.

I spent considerable time researching false-memory syndrome, which affects even the general population. With that people fabricate false memories that are as real as life.

Rocketeer said...

This makes you never want to write down any complaints. Your future amnesic self doesn't need that business.

Such extremes - in the past, she wanted to remember too much, and now, she can't remember enough. Horrible.

Peter said...

She's lucky her journals weren't kept in a password-protected file...

Methadras said...

I see a good lawyer using this as a defense.

Dante said...

Freeman, or perhaps as Socrates thought, writing something down actually takes it out of your mind.

Maybe that's why she forgot. Who knows?

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Her sudden onset physical changes from her diary sounds like an MS case. All MS cases are different in scope and symptoms, and some revert, but most don't.

Depression from loss of their normal functions is a corollary problem for many MS sufferers.Hope is the only answer to that depression.

Although no MS treatments have been a cure yet, the medical care professionals offer up hope in articles about new tests and new drugs that maybe will help in the future.

Again, in my experience with people, a severe handicap that is endured makes the sufferer mentally stronger and very empathetic. (See, Sonia Sotomayor.)

kentuckyliz said...

I have chemobrain. Those toxic chemicals washed away a lot of memories.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

I'm sure bad things have happened to me, perhaps even traumatic memories...but I don't remember them.

Ignorance is bliss.

deborah said...

"Good comment Freeman. Or speak complaints for that matter."


A lady never complains and never explains.