Memories

I started creating you right when I was a baby
and you've stayed with me always unless when I'm asleep, maybe.
You come in all flavours.. Sweet, sour, bitter
Some of you are fleeting, while some of you are bigger.

Dear memories you do love to play hide and seek.
Sometimes I need to dig you out and sometimes you refuse to leave.
That time when the teacher questioned me, and again in the exam hall
When I looked for you desperately where were you all?
Then I had my heart broken and I wanted you all gone
but you didn't move an inch, you stubbornly stayed on!

Ah memories!

Then I saw my grandma when Alzheimer's struck.

I watched her forget ...
the children she'd nurtured, the home she'd made.
Like a baby, yet not one, she forgot to eat and to dress.
One minute she'd hug you, next she'd look through
and then she'd ask.. Little girl, who are you?

I watched my Dad's heartbreak and my mum's helplessness
as they fed her and bathed her and took her for a walk.
Sometimes they'd simply sit and listen to her talk.

I watched as she fought to get a grasp of you
but you remained elusive.
You'd come in flashes and then disappear
Just in reach yet just not there.

Now I know you are priceless
Good, bad, ugly, beautiful, sad, happy
every bit of you is to be cherished 
for every bit of you 
has a bit of me.

Note: I started this off as a fun thing because I had no clue what to write for today's prompt, Memory. And then as I went on I remembered my grandmother who suffered from Alzheimer's. She was the sweetest, most uncomplicated, most affectionate lady ever. And I realised how precious memories were, all of them, and how lost we'd be without them.. even the bad ones.

Thank you Write Tribe.. And yes I'm in.
Linking....

For some great takes on 'Memory', go here. And if you' don't know what I'm talking about and are looking for more details on this amazing Festival of Words go here.

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