Memory Triggers

For the past few months at work, a coworker has taken new interest in me. He walks by my office a little too much. He looks at me a little too long. He smiles at me a little too wide. We’ve known each other for years, but this energy was something new- something he couldn’t quite place. Until he burst into my office one day and yelled triumphantly "New Zoo Review"!

New Zoo Review was a kid’s show in the 70’s featuring an assortment of adults dressed as animal characters including Henrietta the Hippo and Freddie the Frog. Thankfully I didn’t remind him of Henrietta the Hippo, but I did remind him of the host of the show who was one of the few adult characters. Emmy Jo sported a Marlo Thomas-like flip hairdo, short dresses and high boots- exactly what I happened to be wearing at that moment when he and I Googled images from the show, laughing at the resemblance that had triggered his long forgotten childhood crush.

A memory trigger is the result of one or more of our senses reacting to something that instantly brings us to a different place or time, eliciting the emotions associated with the memory. A random sight, smell, taste, touch or sound can release a dam of pent-up memories, immensely powerful in their recollection- both positive and negative.

I bit into a memory about a month ago when I tasted a date walnut energy bar at a race. Within seconds, I was 7 years old again at my elderly neighbor’s home. I was sitting in Ethel’s kitchen, wearing white knee socks and a plaid dress, my two adult front teeth looming large compared to the baby teeth awaiting their eviction, as we drank tea and snacked on her homemade date nut bars still warm from the oven. I would stroll by her house after school to see if she had a baking pan cooling in her front window- an open invitation to stop in for a visit. I hadn’t thought of Ethel for decades, but the flashback made me smile and say a little prayer for her kindness and excellent baking skills.

Earlier this year, singer Teddy Pendergrass died. And like a Bewitched episode, in the wiggle of a nose I was transported to the middle of the dance floor at EJ’s disco in Rowley. It was the late 70’s, and I was dancing my dupa off in my disco duds as the band played "Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose". A flashback so strong it led me to reconnect with long lost college friends, to toast Teddy’s passing and our own shared history.

While memory triggers can be powerful, their influence can also be subtle. It’s why some of us friend, date, or marry people who remind us of others we miss or care about. It’s why people have "their song" to remind them about the reasons they fell in love in the first place. It’s why restaurants offer comfort foods that conjure up warm memories of home cooking. And it’s the stuff holiday traditions and home remedies are made of, as we try to recreate feelings of love and caring that soothed us in the past.

During a recent interview, an applicant talked excitedly about the prospect of working for a well-known media company. Fresh out of college with a communications degree, she was thrilled to be interviewing for a position that so closely matched her education. She sat perfectly straight on the edge of her seat- literally and figuratively – with a spark in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in years. 20 years to be exact, when I interviewed in the same office, full of similar hope and excitement at the prospect of working for a major metropolitan newspaper.

At the end of our meeting she thanked me for my time, and I thanked her for triggering the long lost memories of pride I felt at the start of my own career. As I walked her to the lobby, I caught our reflections in the front window and noticed that same spark again, only this time it was in both of our eyes.