A Memory that Might Not Have Ever Happened

I’ve been thinking a lot about memories lately. I have a friend who can totally tell me about happenings from 20 years ago as if it were yesterday, while I sit there with a vaguely confused look on my face.

It’s not that I don’t remember anything from childhood, I totally do. It’s just that I remember the oddest assortment of glimpses into my old life and there is no rhyme or reason to it at all. Add to that the fact that I was an extremely imaginative child and I look back and wonder if some things even happened in the first place.

mid 80s
Hey kids – this is an actual picture from the mid-80’s, NOT an instagram filter… And yes, I had a Cabbage Patch Kid with a Matching Cake because I was AWESOME!

Back when I was a kid, probably about 10 or 12 years old, I was a part of a theater group called Kid’s Onstage (I can guestimate my age because there was also Teens Onstage for teenagers). We were basically Glee in middle school, but suckier. I was really shy back then, so I ended up in the chorus for pretty much every song and dance number. Which I’m sure was so thrilling for my parents.

Anyway, according to my dodgy memory there was a game of spin-the-bottle one day/night backstage before a show. There was this one boy that ALL the girls liked. I can’t remember why, but it was the mid-80’s so it probably had something to do with a popped collar polo shirt and pegged jeans. I have a memory of my bottle-spin landing on him and me leaning over to give him a peck on the lips. Which is CRAZY (and clues me in to the fact that it might not have happened…) because I’d never really kissed anyone before and he was totally cool. To the max.

What was even crazier is that I remember the kiss being some weird kind of wet kiss. My innocent mind assumed that I had been “French” kissed, since I read A LOT and knew it was different than a regular kiss. This one was weird; therefore it must have been from France.

I remember he snickered a little, probably at giving me the best time of my entire young life, and then the game continued on. I mean, I guess it did, because my memory ends there.

The funny thing is, looking back at it; the kiss WAS NOT a French kiss. The kid had basically just spit on his lips and pressed them to mine. Which is gross. And slobbery. And I wonder now if he THOUGHT that was a French kiss. I mean, was he some mid-80’s baller just giving his weird slobber kisses out like Garbage Pail Kids and Big League Chewing Gum? And what if he NEVER got better at kissing and some poor woman in her 30’s has to endure slobber kisses each day when they leave the house?

Then I get to the most matrix-y part of it all – did it even happen? I mean, in all actually some other kids probably played spin-the-bottle while I watched from the sidelines and daydreamed about being included.  If that’s the case, I really should have done more research into kissing and inserted a much sassier kiss in place of the one I (might have) got.

Is it just me with my wonky memory or do you have childhood memories that you’re not quite sure if they ever really happened?

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15 thoughts on “A Memory that Might Not Have Ever Happened”

  1. I love the cake and your doll! Do you remember its name? Mine was Merlene Agatha. I remember the Cabbage Patch Dolls came with weird names.
    I have vivid memories too. And I did NOT engage in spin the bottle until college, so points to you for being so advanced, even if it might not have happened. But it probably did.

    1. My doll came with a truly stupid name, so I immediately renamed her. Her name changed with my mood though and my favorite was Crystal Diamond. Yeah, I know. What was up with their butt tattoos though? Do you think they’re to blame for 90% of people between the ages of 25 – 40 having tattoos now…?

  2. OMG Cabbage Patch Dolls!!

    I totally get it. I had a memory pop up a while ago for something that happened when I was about 13 or 14. I had totally forgotten about it and at first I questioned if it was an accurate memory or not. Funny how this stuff peeks up occasionally.

    1. I was at a Tot Swap consignment sale and they totally had a Cabbage Patch kid IN BOX from 1985… I was so close to buying it…

  3. This post definitely hit home for me because I have the WORST memory about my childhood. It’s not like it was traumatic and I’m trying to block it out (as far as I know, I guess) but I just don’t remember it with crystal-clear clarity like some people seem to. Facebook is weird for me because when people first friend you they will often ask you about these little “gems” from your long-ago past and I totally don’t remember them. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to fake it or what?

    1. Oh gosh, I have the same problem! In the past I would fake it, but now I just own up to the fact that my memory totally sucks. Also, when someone has aged 15 years, I TOTALLY do not recognize them. At. ALL!

  4. This is so timely. My post for tomorrow is about my first kiss, however I know I was kissed before that but I can’t remember when or how many times it happened. I don’t understand why we remember some things and other things just totally disappear. I hope you are being kissed more memorably now 🙂

  5. It happens to the best of us! Our brains are such a crazy mystery…I feel like I fill in the blanks all the time! P.S. You are so totally cute and all the nostalgia in this post made me want to play Truth or Dare with you SO BAD!

  6. Yeah I hate the gaps in childhood memories too! Like when people on Facebook emerge from the murky depths of a thousand years of history to ask you: “Remember that time when you and I were on top of that mountain, playing kerplunk with a homeless donkey and a walrus called James and it rained purple jelly?”
    Now I’d like to think I’d remember something like that but sadly not!

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