Forgotten or Frozen in Time?

inspiration: after watching "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," i've been thinking a lot about my past and my memories. I'm not sure how I want to remember the past, and what I want to forget. I wonder if the choice is actually mine.

What’s the first thing that you forget about someone? 

What is the last memory to go? 

Do all things go, eventually?

Our minds must make space for the new 

Let go of the old, 

Shed what cannot or should not exist in the present 

I wonder if that would make us feel more free, or more lost

Yet, I will always remember hearing Sir Duke for the first time 

Music class, elementary school

"This is Stevie Wonder," my teacher said smiling

But do all things go, eventually?

Is it only a matter of time?

Impersonate your best friend from elementary school now

I dare you

What did their laugh sound like?

What did it feel like when you laughed together? What did it mean to you to be in their presence?

Perhaps the memories last, but they exist just below the surface 

Just like the smell of abriko as it filled my nostrils for the first time in years

There I was, back in my hometown in Haiti

Yes! I know this smell.

I know this fruit

It used to be my favorite 

What other favorite memories do I have,

Lying just slightly out of my reach?

Perhaps you need to hear your old best friend’s laugh again 

To realize you had never truly forgotten it 

Maybe the people, places and things that meant something to us never fully leave us

Maybe they lie dormant, frozen in time

Yet alive in essence

Can we make ourselves forget the past?

Should we?