Last Thursday, I'd had a long day at work and was officially not in the mood to cook that night.  I decided eating out was our destiny for dinner.  The weather was so nice and we opted to get a table outside at Newk's and everyone began to give a summary of their day.  Carson had his second golf game or meet or whatever you call a golf competition between schools.....so we definitely needed to hear about that.  Blair gave us an account of her sales day on the road.  Davis had been out of town working and I spent the day putting new merchandise out at the stores.  We were enjoying a nice evening meal together when I thought I spotted one of Blair's former teachers far off in the distance.  Blair turned around and verified that it was, indeed, her.  Just the sight of the teacher immediately brought to her mind an embarrassing memory. 


She was in this lady's class in elementary school and, one day, Blair was asked to come up and work something on the board. She got up and, on her way to the front of the class, a pair of her panties fell out of the leg of her pants.  You know how, sometimes, when clothes come out of the dryer, they get caught up in each other.  Well, it must have been Blair's unlucky day because, on the way to the board, the darn static cling decided to release its grip and a pair of her stowaway panties fell out right there on the floor. Of course, everyone giggled.  What elementary child wouldn't?  Sadly, the teacher even giggled instead of helping her out in the awkward situation.  I guess the only thing that could have made it worse would've been if my underwear would have come shooting out and, well, that would have really gotten some gasps going.  Even so, she was mortified and just recalling the experience made her cover her red face at the restaurant 14 years later.



That got me thinking just how long experiences stay with us.  Good or bad, some things affect us so much that just scratching the memory at its surface can make us feel flushed or crushed or a million different other ways.  It made me wonder why that is....why some moments stand out in our mind so.  Moments that are long gone and over and done.  Forgotten about by everyone else.  The good ones still have the power to give us a boost and the bad ones never seem to lose their potency to give us a punch in the gut.  Sometimes, out of the blue, an unpleasant memory can rear its ugly head and make us feel just as self-conscious or inadequate as it did so many years ago.  Like it just happened yesterday.     


Well, since we started out talking about Blair's unpleasant experience, I'll share one of her good memorable moments to counteract the underwear thing and to speak to the power of a positive memory.  One that comes to my mind would definitely be the vacation we took to Hilton Head and Savannah when she was about 11.  Well, we took a cooking class from Paula Deen while we were there and, lo and behold, she called Blair up to the front of the class.  Maybe it was so significant because she was at that awkward tweenager stage or maybe because she was singled out by someone she really admired.  I mean, after all, she watched her show all the time.  Every day.  Other kids her age were watching Nickelodeon and mine was tuned into the Food Network.  


Anyway, Paula called her to come up and she patted on her and played with her hair.  She complimented her and hugged and hugged and hugged her some more.  She asked her what she liked to cook and asked all kinds of 'get to know you' questions.  For about 15 minutes, Paula talked to Blair like she was the only other person in the world.  Like she didn't have anything else to do.  She turned a little red with intimidation but managed to carry on a delightful conversation with Paula even though she was obviously star struck.  




Well, she left there with all sorts of treats and autographs and recipes from Paula but the main thing she left with was an encouraging memory to store for her use later.  We all have a storehouse where we keep those and we can bring them out whenever we need them.  When we're feeling discouraged or insecure or just blue.  When life gets hard, we all have that place in our mind where we've saved up warmth and love and encouragement from the past that we can draw from when we need it.  It doesn't have to be from a celebrity.  We all have the potential to fill someone's memory bank with good.  Like the old saying goes.....we never forget how a person makes us feel when we're around them. 


Whether we like to admit it or not, our past experiences travel with us to the very end of the road.  Some can poke at our insecurities......leaving our panties in a wad right there on the floor for everyone to see.  Others can light a beautiful spark in our eyes......and inspire us to grow into a wonderful cook.  We have the power to do either of those things for each other.       


If you make good deposits in others' lives, they'll get a lot of return for your investment.   




Y'all have a good Monday!