The senses!  We have five and, generally, it is not until something jars one of them that we give them a second thought.  Yes, I run for the camera when I see something that I like the way it looks – people, storefronts, sunrises and sunsets.  Not everyone does, though.

Sight also draws up memories for me.  A few weeks ago I was driving down a street in a nearby city where I frequently go for work.  This city is close but still approximately 40 miles away so I generally get there once a week, occasionally more frequently.  Last week, for example, I will be there three days as I am going to hear a group play on Sunday evening and then two days for work.  This week I will be there for a class I am taking but not for work at all.  Next week, I am going to a TweetUp there.

Back to the sighting – pun intended.  I was driving down this street.  First I drove by a bar.  At one point in time, my guess would be it had been a hotel but now it seems to be just a bar and nothing spectacular.  The beer is good that they have on tap, always a plus in my book, and they have a pool table.  My memory flashed to a night at the end of September when I was there with a friend.  Just driving past made that night of pool come back to me.

We had spent a bit of time at a Mexican restaurant a couple of blocks away, having margaritas and nachos.  A torrential rain storm had caused me to get drenched out on the patio so we had gone into the bar.  Once the rain stopped, we had gone walking through a shopping area, long closed for the night but still with a few people walking through as we were.  We came to this other bar and went in to play pool.  Beware of playing pool with mobile phones in your pocket – not me, him.  He accidentally dialed someone and left a lengthy voicemail of us discussing geometry because, after all, what are bank shots but geometry proofs in real life?  Got that kids?  You will use geometry again some day.

As I continued on my way heading out of the city as I needed to get home for an activity, I hit the light red at the corner where I needed to turn.  Another memory came rushing back to me.  We had had margaritas and nachos another evening, right after he finished work and I did also.  He needed to catch the bus home so we were waiting where the bus would be stopping except we were a block or so from the actual stop.  We had stood there with some college kids.  They had asked us questions about the bus system which he could answer easily.  Then, his bus had come buzzing by.  He had to run to catch it up the block.  Just thinking about it now is making me smile.  The sight of him running after the bus in dress clothes from work with his brief case/bag is a memory I will always have.

I could go on and on as I have many memories that are triggered by seeing different things.  I still have memories of my son’s football team winning the state championship every time I drive past the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.  Most make me smile as I remember the sights I have seen in my life.  I saw a friend’s photos of some time in the Adirondacks which took me back to the years I lived there.

What memories do sights trigger for you?  Is it a place or a souvenir?  What about photographs?  Do they trigger memories for you?