Tuesday, November 17, 2009

movie memories



Just how far back in time can we go with our memories? I remember the very first movie that I ever saw on television. I think that you can guess what it was. Yep, The Enchanted Forest. I don’t know why for sure but I was just absolutely enthralled by this movie. It made a lasting impression on me. Pardon the pun, but I guess that you might say that I was enchanted by it. It is a family oriented movie. I even remember the name of the German shepherd, it was Bruno. Over the years I never forgot the movie and as luck would have it, about 10 years ago I got an old time movie catalog in the mail and there on the pages in between was The Enchanted Forest. I knew that I had to have a copy of it and so I ordered it right away. I have watched it and the movie remains one of my treasured possessions. I will never get rid of it because it ties me back to my early childhood. Sort of like the movie Citizen Kane where the last dying words spoken by Orson Wells was Rosebud. Rosebud was the name of the snow sleigh that he had as a child and so as he lay dying his memory went back to his childhood and his sleigh. So too with the movie The Enchanted Forest. Sometimes it is strange what we remember from childhood and seems important to us. From my memory as a six year old child in New York was a boulder. Yes, a granite boulder about three feet in diameter. What made this granite special was that it sat in a field of high golden yellow grass. I found the sight impressive because of the golden weeds. I have always had an appreciation of the beauty of nature from the earliest age. What fascinated me was that the boulder was in this field all by itself without any other boulders close by. I was too young to know that the Hudson river valley was carved by ancient glaciers and as the glaciers retreated they left all these boulders scattered here and there. Now doesn’t the scientific explanation take away some of the beauty and mystique? But I have always wanted to see the boulder one more time and get a picture. So when Mary and I went to New York I dragged her miles out of town to this house where I use to live and the field containing the boulder which was located across the small rural road from the house. I found the house and I looked at the field.
This is the house that I lived in and the boulder and wfield was straight across the street from the house. A lot of memories from this house. But what about the field and boulder? Yeah, there was now a house on that empty field and the boulder was gone. It was probably removed by a bulldozer so that the owners of the home could have a nice unobstructed green lawn. I wish that I had a picture of that old boulder to share with everyone but the only picture that remains is in my minds eye. Poor Mary was very obliging to go along with me on these quests of mine of my childhood memories. I had a good childhood with lots of good memories and sometimes it is enjoyable to retreat back into those memories and daydream to relive them once again. What is your absolute earliest memory? Just how far back in time can you remember? Which memory is your favorite? Questions, questions. So much to remember. Everyone could write a book on their life experiences. Go forth and have a great day and make some more pleasant memories. Lew

No comments: