All Aboard

Marcel Proust once said, ~The moments of the past do not remain still, they retain in our memory the motion which drew them towards the future, towards a future which has itself become the past, and draw us on in their train.~ Without a doubt, the countless memories each of us have stored away in our minds are, in some ways, like pieces of individual luggage being transported on the train of time. Its within one's own luggage room of a mind that certain memories are either kept up front for easy access to unpack, kept in the middle to protect/preserve it until the time is right to unpack, or kept in the very back where one would most definitely pick up and throw out the window while in motion to never be remembered ever again.

If you think about it, whenever we take a ride on the memory lane express heading to somewhere in the past you can hear a distinct click as your ticket is being punched by one's metaphorical train conductor who is in charge of all the luggage that gets stored, as well as, viewed on a daily basis. It can boggle the mind on how many times a certain memory, bad or good, is unpacked that trying to re-pack everything that one took out to reminisce about would make a person go completely crazy. It's tough enough being in charge of our own memories, but the thought of being in charge of someone else's memories would make anyone pull the chord to stop the train, jump out the window, and run for dear life.

As it was said before, there are certain memories that are kept up front or in the middle and they are a representation of the luggage you truly hold near and dear to your heart. For the memories that one keeps up front and tends to get unpacked the most are the fun times shared with your bestest of friends who made one's railroad trip a hopefully bumpless experience. When it comes to the luggage that is securely fastened in the middle it only gets unpacked when you look back on those deeply touching and intimate memories shared with a loved one such as giving birth, getting engaged or married. It's those treasured memories and others more like it that mean so much to where they're always labeled handle with care because of how priceless they are to you.

Essentially, there are certain memories every person carries around with them that he or she would gladly never unpack, but unfortunately you can't help but remember. It's the type of luggage that is oftentimes referred to as baggage and it would be safe to say that many of us would gladly take our personal painful baggage, lock it in a giant trunk, and 86 it out the proverbial window of our mind forever never to be relived again. However, life doesn't work that way as we can only try to suppress them to the back of our minds the best we possibly can, but there will come a point where that unexpected train whistle blows to where an unwanted painful memory walks in, sits next to you, and annoys you to no end.

In retrospect, the memories we all have don't keep a timed schedule as they arrive and leave whenever they want to, which can be very unpredictable. One minute you could be thinking about your favorite cartoons you watched as a kid and then the next minute you're thinking about how you broke up with someone who you considered immature because he or she still watches cartoons. Personally speaking, I see nothing wrong with watching cartoons as I'm a child of the 80's who not only continues to watch them, but also buys the DVD's like the 20th anniversary of Transformers: The Movie. In the end, whenever the memory lane express arrives to pick you up and whisks you away to the past, you'll inevitably hear these two words said.....ALL ABOARD!