Shared Memory.

You know something I was thinking about today is shared memory. Not so much about things that happened necessarily -- which is also neat -- but memories about the sound of something or the smell of something, or something else like that, that could very rarely be recreated or found again.

The person I share most of my memories with is most likely my sister Erin.

Allow me to explain. When Erin and I were little, we had a cassette tape (dating ourselves here) that contained the story of Hansel and Gretel on one side. At the beginning of the tape, before the story started, there was this really creepy witch's laugh. Erin HATED it. The sound of it is still stuck in my memory to this day, and I bet Erin knows it too.

On the other side of that same tape was the story of Rumpelstiltskin. At the end of the story, after the queen guesses Rumpelstiltskin's name, he said, "Who told you? Who dared to tell you my name? You must be a witch, with terrible powers. I hate you, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" First thing, wow, I had no idea I remembered all of that till I started typing it, and second thing, I hear the voice of that character in my head, and I bet Erin knows it too!

We had these Strawberry Shortcake dolls that came with these little plastic muffins in a little plastic muffin "tin." They had this very distinct sweet smell that I can smell in my mind to this day, and, you guessed it, I know Erin can too.

It's things like that. Things that if I hear someone say something even in the neighborhood of "Who told you?" I'm like "WHOOOO TOLLDDDD YOUUUUU" in my head.

My shared memory sister Erin.

Soooo this is either making total and complete sense to you or absolutely none at all!