Memory is a strange and unreliable thing. The things you remember and what you forget seems to follow no particular pattern, not entirely related to the time that has passed or the significance of the event at the time. And the things that can trigger memories are also strange and unpredictable. Such as jelly and Tupperware parties. Today I had a Tupperware party. As part of my preparations I was making a rainbow jelly for the three-year-old daughter of one of my friends. Every time I see Molly I make her a jelly in layers. I often wondered why and where the idea came from. And there it was. I could have been no more than six, about the earliest time I can remember. I was in Grade 1 at the birthday party of my best friend from kindy. We went to different schools post kindy so I didn't know her other friends. I was talking to her mum - a Tupperware lady - in the kitchen. She'd made this huge jelly in a
Tupperware mould. Three different coloured jellies in traffic light colours. I'd never seen anything like it. I was wide eyed with excitement. And then, as she tipped it upside down to ease the jelly from the mould, the whole thing collapsed. She was devastated. It has been more than four decades since I remembered that day and yet it was still there waiting for Tupperware and jelly to merge in my mind. Weird. I might say Tupperware has changed quite a bit in the intervening years. At tonight's party we were making cocktails and risotto in a microwave pressure cooker. I wonder if Molly will remember any of it. Probably not, not even the jelly.
Memory is a strange and unreliable thing. The things you remember and what you forget seems to follow no particular pattern, not entirely related to the time that has passed or the significance of the event at the time. And the things that can trigger memories are also strange and unpredictable. Such as jelly and Tupperware parties. Today I had a Tupperware party. As part of my preparations I was making a rainbow jelly for the three-year-old daughter of one of my friends. Every time I see Molly I make her a jelly in layers. I often wondered why and where the idea came from. And there it was. I could have been no more than six, about the earliest time I can remember. I was in Grade 1 at the birthday party of my best friend from kindy. We went to different schools post kindy so I didn't know her other friends. I was talking to her mum - a Tupperware lady - in the kitchen. She'd made this huge jelly in a Tupperware mould. Three different coloured jellies in traffic light colours. I'd never seen anything like it. I was wide eyed with excitement. And then, as she tipped it upside down to ease the jelly from the mould, the whole thing collapsed. She was devastated. It has been more than four decades since I remembered that day and yet it was still there waiting for Tupperware and jelly to merge in my mind. Weird. I might say Tupperware has changed quite a bit in the intervening years. At tonight's party we were making cocktails and risotto in a microwave pressure cooker. I wonder if Molly will remember any of it. Probably not, not even the jelly.
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