Today's fortune: We must always have old memories and young hopes.
I love this fortune. It may be my favorite one so far.
"We must always have old memories and young hopes." That's not just a fortune. It's a mantra to live by.
Jamie and I were just talking about memories the other day. I can't speak for everybody, but my memory has its own built-in defense mechanism. I remember all the good things about past experiences. The bad things, although they're not repressed, are merely shadows by comparison. For example: eleven years ago, I spent a summer in Washington D.C. (I wrote about it a while back.) That summer was a formative time in my life. I lived in a dorm with 18 other college students participating in the same program. Since I attended college only as a commuter, I never had a dorm experience - except for the two-month stretch in Washington.
If you lived in a dorm during college, I'll bet you had some crappy experiences. I'm sure I did, too, while I was in D.C. And I can remember them vaguely if I think real hard. But the thoughts that pop into my brain, the thoughts I re-live whenever I hear the word "Washington," are the wonderful old memories.
Same goes for a marriage. Jamie and I have spent a portion of our married life fighting. I'm sure we fight less than the average couple, and we fight waaaaaay less than my brother and his wife (Just kidding! They don't fight, they lovingly bicker... endlessly). So you would think the fights we do have would be memorable. Nope. I can vaguely remember some of the feelings that came to the surface, and I can remember the look on Jamie's face when I am mean. But I have a hard time recalling the cause of the fights.
In a lot of ways, this blog is about memories. But it's about hopes, too. Every day when I write a post for this blog, I hope Jamie will praise it, and my tender young hopes are dashed when she doesn't.
Every time I talk to somebody, I have a hope in the back of my mind that by the end of the conversation, I will make that person smile or laugh. It's a silly little hope, but it keeps me going.
When the Kansas City Royals play, even when they're 20 games out of the race, I hope they win. Same goes for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Whenever I log on to check the balance of my checking account, I hope for a bank error in my favor.
I could go on like this all day. But this fortune refers to "we." I feel like My Daily Fortune is a community. I would love it if you faithful readers would take the time to post some of your favorite old memories or your giddy young hopes.
But before I go, I must update you on a memory Jamie and I just formed yesterday, a memory I'm confident will grow old with us. Yesterday, we had ourselves a full moon. If you remember, I recently received a fortune which said, "The next full moon brings an enchanted evening."
Jamie planned for us to have a moonlight picnic. She was hoping to take us to the lawn at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. But when we saw that the mercury was going to sink low last night, we changed our plans. We had a moonlit picnic next to the fire in our own backyard. I dragged the fire pit into the yard next to a big tree, and we ate sandwiches and potato chips and roasted marshmallows for S'Mores while we talked, snuggled and looked up at the stars. It was, to say the least, enchanting.
Until next time... may your memories age well and may your hopes be as young and adorable as this:
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