Dammed Up Memories

When I am having a difficult day, I like to go to a quiet place and close my eyes for a while.  There are so many happy memories from my childhood that I can visit.  It's like taking a break from reality for a few moments so that my mind can reset.  I think of camping trips with my family and my cousins or spending time with my neighborhood friends on Butler Drive building go-karts and forts.  There is one memory that I visit when I want to reach a level 10.  It's also a place I go to when I am facing a puzzle that seems impossible to solve.  It works like this...

Hoover Dam

I close my eyes and get in my best friend's boat.  Our location is several miles below Hoover Dam.  As Wayne and I travel upstream, the cool wind is blowing in my face.  I can feel the warm sunlight heating my body as my light jacket flaps in the wind.  There it is in front of me, this enormous dam holding back millions of gallons of water.

Wayne cuts the engine and we sit in silence, gazing  upward at this architectural wonder.  The dam is well guarded as it is considered a target by terrorists who would love to blow it up.  As I look up, I think about the water on the other side.  The water above the dam is like my past memories.  A man-made structure is preventing some of these memories from escaping.

How can I access these memories without feeling some sense of loss or hurt?  It's a conundrum.  What would happen if I blew up the dam within my brain so that all of my memories could gush out?  Would this be prudent?  The memories through the 8th grade were so joyous.  I dig deep within my mind while I visualize the dam.  I pray for the Holy Spirit to guide me.  There are lessons to be learned from everything that happened in my life, not just for me, but for you.

"It's time to do some exploring," Wayne says as he cranks the engine, interrupting my day dream within a dream.  We head downstream and explore caves along the way.  Each cave reminds me of the cave I have been living in all my life.

At last, we reach the hot springs.  As I dip my tired body into the steaming water, I feel refreshed and alive.  This is the place where I will allow my memories to come out.  After a particular memory is drawn out, I open my eyes and wake up.  Suddenly, I am back in my bedroom in Ramona.  The memory is ready to leave Hoover Dam and rest in the latest chapter of my Memoir.

This exercise, my friends, is repeated often.  This is how my brain works, how memories become a book.  I realize that I am not really the author.  That credit goes to the Holy Spirit.  This Memoir was written long before I was born.  Jesus knew that for my life to have meaning in this world, I would first need to live through certain events that were excruciating.  They were so painful that I dammed them up for years.  It is time for these memories to be shared along with the lessons I learned.  Stay tuned, they will be published on March 17th, 2011.