Many moons ago, my husband was informed that his brain was an iceberg filled with penguins. Each penguin stands for some sort of memory or knowledge. As you cram more penguins on the iceberg, some will fall off. This is why you forget things like anniversaries, birthdays, where you were five minutes ago, why you were going upstairs, where the dog food went, what you planned to eat for dinner, etc.
I thought this was a good analogy when I was told it the first time. Over time, I have come to maintain that certain people loose certain types of Penguins. For instance, Pilot Boy looses Event Penguins. Pilot Boy always remembers anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, etc. He's good with dates and numbers. He is bad at keeping memories of events that occur to him. For instance, the other day, he decided he wanted to make chocolate covered bananas. He asked me how to melt the chocolate, so I was over there helping him and made some comment about the time Jeb made chocolate covered strawberries.
"Huh?" Pilot Boy asked.
"When you were in college. Jeb made them for JB," I said. "Remember?"
"No," he said.
He went about trying to dip the pieces of banana and then commented that it was hard. I then asked, "Did we ever drip strawberries?"
"I don't know. Isn't that something you did with Jeb?" he asked, joking.
"No. You've never left me alone with Jeb. Oh, wait. You did when you went to work," I commented.
He stared at me blankly for a moment.
"You went to work while Jeb and JB were still at our apartment? When they came to visit us in St. Louis?"
He stared at me blankly. "They came to visit us in St. Louis?"
"Yes. How could you forget it? I mean, they didn't venture out during a thunderstorm to go to Steak and Shake like SE and DE," I commented.
He still stared at me blankly. "Jeb and JB came to visit us?"
The event of Jeb and JB coming to visit us was an Event Penguin that leaped off the iceberg. This has occurred in the course of my relationship with Pilot Boy several times. He remembers meeting me, but doesn't remember what we did. He doesn't remember random things that I always remember. He doesn't remember doing certain things, going places, etc. Those Penguins aren't as important as how to land without any engines or the many detailed other things he remembers. (Which is good. I don't want him to die because he can't remember what the green button does while he does remember going to the lake and how Basil fell down the hill because she was wearing a life vest and she hadn't figure out how to walk in it.)
Pilot Boy remembers how to do complicated math. He remembers things about how to fix things and make things.
These are the sort of Penguins I lose: Educational Penguins.
I learned when I subbed in the dirt hole, I had no clue how to do 7th grade math. I stared at it for the longest time and it seriously looked like Greek to me. I had no clue what to do with it. They kept asking me, and I was like, "OMG. I graduated from college and I have no clue what the hell this is?!"
Same thing happened after I took geology. When my dad and I were in Colorado, he kept asking me these questions about rocks, which in all honesty I should have been able to answer, but those Penguins had jumped the boat a long time ago to make room for what I was wearing when on my 21st birthday (Abercrombie orange turtleneck sweater I got when I was a senior in high school, the pants I got from the Salvation Army my freshman year of college, and my Skechers Bowling style shoes I got to wear while in Scotland. I also wore my hair curly that day).
I remember useless information. I remember what shoes people wore, what handbags they were carrying, what sort of jeans they had on. I remember random events and am able to recall them in great detail. I do not remember how to add and subtract in my head, I do not remember what the hell I learned in geology (at all, I can't remember anything so don't ask) and I do not remember most of what I learned in high school. And I cannot remember 7th grade math. For the life of me, I cannot remember the answer to all the airplane questions I asked D that he answered in great detail for me that Pilot Boy would never answer (maybe because he knew I'd never remember because I'd rather remember what P wore when she ran in that crazy race two springs ago).
Luckily the things I cannot remember, my husband remembers and the Penguins he pushes off the iceberg I remember for him. So together, we remember pretty much everything.
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