I’ve had a lot of people ask me how can I remember certain dates. All I can tell them is that I try to associate it with something or someone else. I’m not really sure how I do it but there are some things that are burned into my memory that I can’t seem to forget. But then again why would I want to?
Before I got my cell phone with all the speed dial numbers next to someone’s name I was the phone book at home. My wife could ask me for someone’s number and I could blurt it out, even if we haven’t called the number in a long time. I still remember some numbers of friends and relatives and even some old home phone numbers but I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t remember as many as I used to. It’s easier to scroll through my list of names in alphabetical order and hit the call button.
One problem I do have is that if I haven’t seen you in a long time I may walk right by you and not say a word. If that happens don’t be mad or hate me thinking I’m stuck on myself or I’m ignoring you, it’s just that I may not recognize you. It does amaze people I’m around all the time that I can remember their birthday or anniversary. I made a comment on the Tadlock Family Facebook page that back on January 17th Grandpa, or “Pop”, Tadlock would have been 120 years old if he was alive today. January 17, 1891.
I asked several people if they knew where they were 28 years ago this day, January 26, 1983. After I told them what happened they could remember. It is amazing that we can associate an event with a certain date.
It was today 28 years ago that America lost one of its legends, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. At the given time he was the winningest coach in college football. After you realized that it was today, you may say, “Oh yea, I remember where I was at and what I was doing when I heard about his passing.”
I try to remember certain things and try to take it in as a part of history that will never be repeated. I watched the last game that Bear Bryant coached with his Alabama Crimson Tide beating the Illinois Fighting Illini 21-15 in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. Last year I watched the last game that Bobby Cox managed for the Atlanta Braves. I watched the last episode of the Late Show that Johnny Carson hosted. (You younger people ask your parents who Johnny Carson was.) I watched the last football game coached by Florida State’s Bobby Bowden. And yes, when Joe “Papa” Paterno decides to step down or aside I plan on watching that game and rooting for Papa Joe’s Nittany Lions to win the last one for the legend.
There are a lot of things in our life that we just assume to forget. But there are some things we don’t ever want to forget. There is history making events happening every day all around us and we want to be a part of it even if it is just in our living room in front of the television set. We can look back and say, “I remember that.” Or “I remember when that happened.”
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