ahh

Memories are strange things.

Miriam still remembers the old days well, but necessarily, with great accuracy.

She told me this year for the first time that her birthday was the same day as her grandmother. They do share the same day of the month, but not the same month. Still, I had not heard that until this year.

I am routinely told that my grandmother had black hair (it was not all white, but mostly) and that my other grandmother was “fat” (she was not). One grandfather lived to be 98, and rode his bicycle for many years (he had a Model T early in his life, but then was carless during the depression, getting his first “modern car”, (a 1936 Ford 5 window coupe) a couple of years before I met Miriam.

She is sure she saw grandpa riding his bicycle, but I am pretty sure she did not.

She remembers that her mother was 5 feet tall and weighed 100 pounds, but the rest of us say she was closer to 5’ 3” and weighted about 120.

Most of these changes memory have happened after Miriams diagnosis, so I think they are related to the disease more than to real fabrication.

If you think you can change her mind about any of this, think again. Mostly it does not matter.

Or does it?