Did you know that some studies say the average human’s attention span is 8.5 seconds? That’s less than a goldfish. No kidding. This “factoid” is dependent on the activity and who is conducting the study, however. As my old college professor explained,
“Statistics can be like a drunk holding up a lamppost.”
On that note—here’s a shout out to all those folks over 70 who “remember the time” and a hundred little details from when they were knee high to a grasshopper.
Memory tip for the weekend:
Set a timer for 5 minutes (you can spare 5 minutes, right?) and write down every summertime memory you can think of. Don’t worry about grammar and punctuation; just get the bare thoughts down.
Here’s what I came up with:
Lying flat in tall alfalfa, staring at the clouds
Driving the hay truck
Horse sweat and sweet carrots
Playing in the sprinkler
Catching tadpoles
Shrieking at huge bullfrogs
Bareback riding in the cool morning
Sloppy watermelons
Hours long Monopoly games
Homemade peach ice cream on the back porch
Summer thunderstorms over the Organ Mountains
Puddle stomping
Swim classes
Scorching steam off vinyl car seats after swimming
Running across hot asphalt in bare feet
Too hot to sleep
Giggling sleepovers with school friends
Swimming in the well water in the ditch
Exploring the cool shade of the pecan orchard
Road trips to new places
Crawdad fishing
Tomato sandwiches
Selling garden veggies from the red flyer wagon
Burned hot dogs and marshmallows
Walking barefoot through the garden
Cold dew in the morning
Dodging toads during flashlight tag
Sparklers and the ouch of stray embers
Playing in the grass with the dog
Now that you’ve done your 5 minute memory list you have story starters for a whole set of memories you can expand on. You’re welcome! Have a wonderful summer weekend.