the things we remember.....

I was swapping emails with my cousin, Michele, recently.  She mentioned my mom - Nana to all in her family - and a visit to her years ago, before she completely lost touch with who we were.  Nana had dementia; a particularly slow decline of memory and function.  One very amazing detail, however, is that she remembered songs.  Songs that were from her childhood or early adulthood.  Every word, every note, and even more amazing, she would sing harmony.  Nana couldn't remember to get dressed, or eat, or the people in her life - things you would assume were important - but she remembered songs and how to sing them.

It got me to thinking about what I would remember, if anything, if someday I'm in her shoes (once I remember to put them on).  Is there anything in my life that is so deeply ingrained in my head and my heart that it will last beyond all else.  It hurts me to imagine not knowing Seth or Lacy, or my brothers, but it could happen.  I don't want to remember work, or my marriage particularly (maybe the good parts), or how unhappy I was at times in my early life - most of my early life actually.

If there is anything I would remember, it would probably be those things that I shouldn't remember now, but somehow do.  Jabberwocky, a poem from Alice in Wonderland that I used as my "talent" in the Jr. Miss Pageant (meaning I had no talent), and other poems I still can recite.  All the old Christmas songs, like "Up On The Rooftop" and "Jolly Old St Nicholas"; those songs Nana sung every Christmas to whatever small children happened to be around that year.   And one other gift from Nana, and old poem called "Little Orphant Annie".  I don't know how many times I heard it while growing up.  It can't have been that many, but it stuck.  Especially the last part, which has an eerie beauty to it in it's description of an old-time country evening:

Little orphant Annie says that when the blaze is blue
And the lampwick sputters, and the wind goes "wooo-wooo"
And you hear the crickets quit, and the moon is gray
And the lightnin' bugs in dew is all squenched away
You better mind your parents and your teachers fond and dear
And cherish them what loves you , and dry the orphants' tear
And help the poor and needy ones that clusters all about
Or the goblins'll get YOU if you don't watch out!!

I did a little research to see if I could find this poem and it's origins.  I was quite surprised.  The poem was written in 1885, and was actually the inspiration for both the comic strip and the "Raggedy Ann" doll.  The author was from Indiana, and the poem has quite a history, which can be found in Wikipedia along with the full poem.

This poem and others represent the things, other than my family, that I would keep with me if I could choose.  You can bet that my grandchildren will hear it, along with several others and, yes, all the old Christmas carols that drive my kids crazy.  That is one piece of my mom, Nana, that will last for generations.  That is one piece that I can hold on to myself, as long as my brain will let me.