What do you remember?

I love Donald Miller. His latest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, is really profound and incredible in so many ways. I recommend you read the entire book, but this post is going to be about a paragraph in the very first chapter.

Miller notes how little of life we actually remember - only a tiny fraction of a fraction of all the minutes and days we live. He says that his friend, Bob, writes down everything he remembers. Every minute detail, and Bob has filled more than 500 pages with his memories.

"He's the only guy I know," writes Miller, "who remembers his life. He said he captures memories, because if he forgets them, it's as though they didn't happen; it's as though he hadn't lived the parts he doesn't remember."

How much of life do you remember? Sure, you remember the big things, like major birthdays, weddings, trips to Disney World. But life is made up of thousands of small moments, of seemingly meaningless choices and habits and routines. Why are you the person you are now? It seems that we are made up of memories, and if we forget, we won't know who we really are.

One of my greatest regrets in life is not writing down my Grandpa's stories when I had the chance. Now I have to try to remember them on my own. That is why I'm going to start blogging about my memories this summer. Let's call it the Summer of Stories. I'd like to say that I'll write one every day, but I'm trying to be realistic here, so let's just say I'll try to post as often as possible. No memories are off-limits, whether they be childhood adventures or moments of teenage angst. I'll try to make sure there's some semblance of a point to everything. Please join in the fun by posting your own memories in the comments section.

As Miller continues, "The thing about trying to remember your life is it makes you wonder what any of it means. You get the feeling life means something, but you're not sure what. Life has a peculiar feel when you look back on it that it doesn't have when you're actually living it."

I'm looking forward to looking back. Hehe. :)