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mother and me. I began to realize that my memory did not always harmonize with hers on some issues. As I got older, the harmony was less and less.
• For example. My mother would tell me, "You must be home by 10 o'clock."
• At least, that is what she said she told me after the fact. When I came in at 11 o'clock, she reminded me of what she told me. For the life of me, I could not remember her telling me to be home by 10 o'clock.
• "I told you to clean up your room."
• Searching my memory board, I could not find any indication that she told me this. I am not saying that she did not; I am just saying that our memories did not coincide on a variety of issues when I became a teenager.
• What struck me about my mother was she could remember conversation she had with me three years ago word for word. As I get older, I began to doubt the accuracy of her memory. The problem with that was, I had no memory of anything and so I had to rely upon her memory.
• Now that I am a parent, it is apparent to me that memory is a rather funny thing. I am not sure that my mother was in this category, but my memory is of such a nature that I can remember things that never took place. Not only that, I can describe it in detail.
• As a teenager I remember coming into the room and my mother sitting there looking out the window with a little smile on her face.
• "What are you thinking about?"
• She just looked at me, smiled and said, "Oh, I was just remembering some things." Then she turned and looked out the window again and I left her to her

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