My Memories

Most people use their brains to record and relive their memories. There's no forgetting it at home, needing batteries or batteries charged, no SD cards or other forms of recording. It's just you and what you see, hear, experience.

This obviously no longer applies to me and to others that have had a TBI.

My memory comes in a few forms now. All electronic.

First is my cell phone. Droid X. It does everything. I have alarms set on it for waking up, or else I'll continue to sleep. I used to sleep 2-4 hours and be great. Now, 10-18 hours is more of a "norm" for me. It has the calender. I put in something, it also updates the hubby's calender on his phone, and sets off an alarm before whatever it is. So I'm always reminded of events, appointments, whatnot. I can look up names, numbers, addresses. I'm able to make my shopping lists on it and have it with me at all times - no more leaving it at home. If I forgot to order something, I pull up the internet and purchase it right then and there. All from my phone. I've had a cell phone for 13 years now. It's always been an emergency type of thing. Now, it's my life line. My memory, literally.

Next is my baby. A Cannon camera with several different lens. With this bad boy I'm able to capture all those precious moments. Yes, my Droid does have camera and camcorder, and it's with me all the time for those unexpected moments, but when it reminds me I'm going to a concert, competition, performance, I know to grab my Cannon. I have well over 300,000 photos I've taken since my injury. I've become very very good at taking photos. So much so that I've been asked to take photos of events and such. Every now and then, I'll browse through the photos I've taken. The memories. I'll see photos of people, places, events, games and wonder where I was. Logically, since I'm the only one that uses the camera, I know who took the photos - me. So I know I was there. Sometimes, I'll let someone else take a photo of me, though that's rare. :-)

The last is my camcorder. It fits in my hand, even in my pocket. It's tiny but has a nice long zoom. I use this for action videos at games, to hear the crowd, to hear the performance, etc. I do it to hear along with seeing my memories.

If it wasn't for these items, I'd never believe the places we've been, the things we've done. I'd always doubt it when someone tells me, as I still do. This throws it into my face that it was real. That I was there.

So next time ya see me with my cameras in tow and phone in hand, know that it's not so much as being obsessed but it's my memory. I don't question you why you carry your brain around, so don't question me why I always have my camera bag with me and my phone out. It's my memory.