Preserve your memories, they’re all that’s left you

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In his classic song “Bookends,”  a sweet but somewhat sad lament about growing old, Paul Simon wrote these words:

Time it was

And what a time it was, it was

A time of innocence

A time of confidences

Long ago it must be

I have a photograph

Preserve your memories

They're all that's left you.

I learned this week that your memories are not always what you think they are.

If you read my Facebook posts, you know that when I was a boy of 6 or so I faithfully watched the Mickey Mouse Club on TV every day to see Bobby, Cubby, Karen, Sharon, Lonnie, Tommy, Darlene, Doreen and Annette. (OK, mostly to see Annette.) One of the biggest attractions for me was the serialized versions of Hardy Boys mysteries and the ranch adventures of “Spin and Marty” that ran for about 10 minutes as a segment of each show.

Season 1 saw the Hardys solve “The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure,” followed the next year by “The Mystery of Ghost Farm.”

The Applegate story was a loose interpretation of the first Hardy Boys book, “The Tower Treasure,” which I read later in life. Then, for the next 60 or so years, I carried an image in my mind of the Hardys and their friend Perry Robinson walking along at night in front of a high stone wall that guarded a spooky old mansion on a hill. The wind was blowing and fallen leaves were swirling around and making rasping noises on the street.

What’s more, every Halloween after that I imagined that I would walk outside, hear the wind blowing and see the leaves swirling just like they did for Frank and Joe Hardy, and it would be a perfect, mysterious, spooky old night for Trick-or-Treat.

So it was with great anticipation when I found “The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure” on YouTube that I started watching it again for the first time since 1956. Eagerly I watched, episode after episode, awaiting that one scene that had been playing in my mind for so many years. I watched as the Hardys dug holes looking for the treasure, jousted with old man Applegate, tore out walls in the mansion and climbed a water tower down by the rail yard.

And then it was over.

Wait! What? I watched all 19 episodes and there was no scene like the one I remembered. Not. One. Scene. Oh, there were a few times that Frank or Joe or Perry or their friend Iola Morton walked alongside a tall hedge that bordered Applegate’s property, but there was no wall and no wind and no leaves and no mansion on a hill...just an old house on a street behind a hedge.

What’s more, I’ve gone out on Halloween night for most of my life, either as a kid trick-or-treating or as an adult escorting my kids and grandkids as they went door-to-door begging for candy and treats, and not once do I remember the wind blowing or the leaves swirling the way I wanted them to. Not even once.

(In my experience, it’s more likely to rain on Halloween.)

So at first I was pretty disappointed after waiting so long to recapture a memory that turned out to be wrong, but after thinking it over, it was still great to put the real world on hold for a couple of days and flash back to being a six-year-old boy again...and to feel the same excitement and joy I had experienced then, carving such a deep impression that it’s still with me today.

So what I learned is this: Your memories may not always be what you think they are, but they are exclusively yours all the same. They’re the back story of your life, for good or ill, or at least the way you have come to remember it. If they are good memories, you should bring them back and relive them as often as you can, even if they get a little fuzzy over time. 

And don't worry so much if they're right or wrong after oh, so many years. Just wrap yourself up in them and pretend.