Memory stories

We celebrated twenty years of spending Easter together with three families at the beach – technically it was nineteen because we missed Easter last year due to Covid – but that’s a minor detail!

We started with eight adults, and now we have accumulated nine children between us, ranging from ten to nineteen. We’ve stayed at a few different houses as our crew has grown.

Looking at these beautiful kids and some of our oldest friends filled me with a hundred stories. The play the kids put on one year where Miss 14, then Miss 3, was too shy to participate but ‘helped’ behind the scenes instead. The year we had an Italian theme based on the movie Big Night and ate way too much pasta. Twenty years of eating fish on Good Friday, with each fish given a different name – Percy Poisson, Sammy Salmon. Many, many craft activities to keep little people entertained. The annual Easter egg hunt, even for the teenagers now!

I attended a talk by psychologist Andrew Fuller a few years ago where he talked about the importance of memory for learning. This included not only tips and tricks for helping students to memorise facts and concepts but also the importance of remembering stories as emotions are tied to memories.

When I remember to remember this(!) I can bring up memories for my kids at dinner, in the car, walking the dog. During the lead-up to Easter, when we’re talking about what to pack, what we’ll cook, we often remember other Easter stories.

• Remember when M played his guitar and we all sang?

• Do you think L will cook tacos on our first night like she usually does?

• Remember when we stayed at the other house and all the kids slept in one room?

• Remember when we put on plays with the shadow puppets and torches?

By reliving memories, we create a strong narrative about who we are and what’s important to us – important enough to remember. I hope you created or relived wonderful Easter memories, too.