Forget me not...

I have a problem forgetting people; which, to most, wouldn't translate to be a problem.

Think about it this way. Everyday, you go get gas, or go to CVS, or Blockbuster, etc. While there, you meet someone. They help you, you walk out. Within 20 minutes you forget them, that they ever existed and that the two of you ever met. With those who have some "significance" in our lives, the process becomes more difficult. We throw out the letters, remove the photos, etc. But for some reason, we find forgetting to be the most difficult thing ever. We want to forget, we pray to forget, but no matter how hard we try...the memories dominate the fight.

No matter how hard you try, there will always be someone that you can't forget. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? What if you desperately want to forget about the person? More so, what if it is a number of people.

This seems to be the case for me. There are a few people, that like it or not, have had an impact in my life. Focusing upon the positive, if I do like it...it just creates unnecessary nostalgia. Will I see this person again? Do they remember me? Etc

A specific example that I can draw upon is my 5th Grade teacher, Mrs. Pilon.

(Sidebar, in no way am I saying that none of the other people who have left an impact on my life aren't important. This is just an example, and possibly the first one that came to mind.)

Mrs. Pilon was my 5th Grade teacher...to this day I remember how she looks, her voice, her idiosyncrasies, and most importantly the impact she had on my life. For the majority of my formative years, I was in the Catholic school system. And anyone who knows that system, knows that they don't really like double promoting kids...especially the ones they consider to be bad. Unfortunately, I was one of those kids. Mrs. Pilon noticed that I was a bit, bored, by class. So she suggested that I should be double promoted. As you can presume, this didn't go over well with the Head Nun at my school. But through continual pushing, she somehow convinced her to consider it...after I took an IQ test of course. Now, I could go into the details...but to spare you the time, I'll just say I passed...with flying colors. Still not enough to convince the Head Nun, I was forced to take it again...this time scoring higher. This allowed for me to be double promoted in the middle of the year, and could've actually been promoted to the 7th instead of the 6th. (My Mother and Mrs. Pilon would opt against this however, due to my age and the formidable learning curve that I would have to face missing half a year of the 7th grade and completely skipping the 6th.)

Now, I don't know what Mrs. Pilon is doing these days. To be honest I haven't seen her in years. After I finished the 6th Grade, I transferred schools. When I came back to try to catch up with her, I find out that she left. I left out a small portion of the story you see, Mrs. Pilon could never have a child. Her husband and her tried a number of times, but never could bear. Come to find out, the reason she left was because she had recently given birth and wanted to stay home with the newborn child.

I wonder if Mrs. Pilon ever wonders what I'm doing? If I'm still alive? If I graduated from HS? College? What am I doing now? Dreams? If I still remember her?

Little do we realize it, everyday that we're alive we have the ability to make a positive or negative long-lasting effect on someone's life. Someone will not forget you...whether you know it or not.

Mrs. Pilon...

~Bouier