Memories -- fragments of time...

What creates these fragments of vision that make up our lives?
What triggers these flashbacks which can instantly transport us back in time to the sights, sounds, and sounds of story? a melody/song on the radio, a photograph, apple pie baking...
Can we cause memories to re-appear at will? Can we force that action with successful results?
What pockets of the brain contain these images binding them together with the emotion, the sensual imprint that bind them forever to that moment in time?
Why do we remember some moemnts, but not others? Is it emotion that creates significance?

Are memories like snowflakes -- each unique and individual one based on our perceptions at the time, how we color our world? Are they a snapshot in time reflecting a transformative moment?

Why is it that two people who experience the same story remember it differently? Does sensory input govern the choices we make in how we remember? the how, what, and why of that moment. Do words or language limit our ability to communicate accurately that vision that is so personal to us -- our memories?

Can one person's memory help to trigger another person's -- much like a conversation begins at a starting place, meanders along and arrives at a brand new unexpected destination.

Can we consciously choose our current memories and if so, what determines if we will remember what we have chosen to remember, years from now?

What does it feel like to lose our memories, to search for and not find them, the more we attempt to grasp and hold on to them, the more they elude us, the very pursuit becoming an exercise in futility. Is this why we fear alzheimers so much? Can there be anything more frightening than not having these markers in time relate our life story to the passage of time.

Conversely, how can we forget moments of agony, moments of excruciating embarrassment, moments of extreme fear, of deep regret?

Why do memories of loved ones lost... fade -- their voice, inflections, gestures, expressions? We grasp and yet they seem to elude our grasp -- a partial price to pay as we grieve.

Moments of pure joy and passion infused interactions with nature, loved ones or friends -- those moments we that we long to re-capture -- that we dearly wish to re-live, to re-experience, to re-turn to...Memories.