Olivia Newport Mom and Tag

Photo by Larry Mohr

Honestly, I don’t know where my mom gets this stuff.

The day was particularly windy. When Mom got back from walking the dog, she put both hands on her head to tame her hair and said,

“It’s really windy out there. It makes you want to        take your wig off.”

I haven’t laughed so hard since I don’t know when.

My mom does not wear a wig! I asked where she got such an expression and she answered that someone said that to her about forty years ago and she hadn’t heard it since.

Really? Great quips can lie dormant for forty years and then wake up on just the right day?

Maybe other great memories are the same way. They’re in our brains somewhere, and we can tease them out and use them to bring a moment into focus, or just to lighten someone’s day.

• What is your earliest memory?