A Trip Down Memory Lane

A good friend told me about an experience that he had recently. He was driving down a busy street when he saw a sign for a new restaurant that had just opened. The restaurant included a bakery and he and his wife love bakeries. He thought of the smell and tastes of baked goods and immediately pulled in to the parking lot and checked out the new place.

A little farther along, he passed an auto dealer which had a brand new, gray, VW Beetle out front. That reminded him of his first car, bought for him at age 20 by his father. He remembered that when he and his father went to pick up the new Bug he immediately backed the car into a wall in the dealer’s lot. His first accident and with his father right there watching.

Thinking about driving the car reminded him of driving to pick up the wedding cake for his daughter’s recent wedding. He had passed a Carvel Ice Cream shop and remembered how much he enjoys their ice cream treats. The town he now lives in does not have Carvel and seeing this one brought back good memories. He turned in, parked and bought a sundae.

As he was telling me about these memories of past experiences that he enjoyed so much, it occurred to me that they all began with him seeing something, the sign at the restaurant, the gray VW Beetle, the Carvel shop. Seeing these things triggered memories, good memories, of tastes and experiences from the past. If he had not had the ability to see the sign and the Beetle and the ice cream shop he would have missed out on these good memories. His vision triggered a craving for baked goods and ice cream and helped him recall what he now sees as a funny experience with his first car. He was reliving these past pleasant experiences because of things that he saw.

Many of my low vision patients are elderly. They have a long life of experiences waiting to be recalled and enjoyed. I feel blessed to be able to help them see better and in seeing better perhaps they will have their memory stimulated by something that they see. They have the possibility of reliving good experiences from the past as my friend did. I am reminded that vision is not just about reading or seeing TV or driving. It is about enjoying life more, both the events of today and the memories of the past.