This may be a boring post to some but I was struck again today by just how weird our minds are. I don't know about you but I've noticed that my mind has learned several things "on it's own" over the years...Maybe I should explain; you know how you associate a smell with a person/place/memory? Maybe it's a perfume, the smell of your favorite food, or how most of us think of Christmas when we smell cinnamon and nutmeg. Those are the most common unintentional things our minds learn but it can make other weird associations too. Maybe this strikes me more because I love psychology and understand why my mind has learned these things even though I had no intention of it doing so, but regardless I think it's pretty interesting if you can pick out similar things in your own brain. Maybe you'll never notice any of your own, but for the record, all of the following examples have taken me months or YEARS to realize where happening, but you remember the same moment in time often enough while always doing the same thing and eventually you start to notice...
For instance:
My kids got a new toy right around the time we took a road trip to Iowa. They played with it in the car often and it plays a cute little song about riding in the car. It also says "I'm a cat" etc. when you push on the different animals (B, this may sound familiar since it came from your house). Anyways, while they played with this new toy I was reading a new series of books- The Hunger Games. Guess what instantly pops into my head every single time the kids play with that toy?? Yup, The Hunger Games, specifically a female character that must have played a prominent part in the story when they were playing with that toy particularly hard.
Another example:
When I go to enter Evelyn's pin number into the phone directory for babyfood testing I always think of Harry Potter. Specifically the scene in The Goblet of Fire when the characters are taking a portkey to the Quidditch World Cup (yeah, I know...). I can only guess that I was watching that movie at one point when I was trying to remember her pin or entering it over and over as I often end up doing until I got it right.
My last example:
EVERY SINGLE TIME I CURL MY HAIR...I think of my friend Beth from college. I know why...it's because 7 years ago when she got married it took about 3 hours to spiral curl alllll of her very long hair. It's so ingrained in my mind I can't help but think of her every time I do it myself. Love you Beth!
There are various others that involve smell: two colognes that remind me of boys I liked in high school, the smell of hot pavement and diesel smells like India, cool weather with drizzly rain is Ireland, the smell of spring reminds me of a particular spring during my Junior year of high school, ketchup smells like Russ', etc.
So those are a few of my weird connections...what are yours?
You know you've been neglecting your dog when...
You are walking past the bathroom to put away some clothes in the nursery and you suddenly hear the bath toy that is attached to the wall in shower going off. Since this particular toy never goes off on it's own and the curtain is shut you are confused.
Upon further investigation your dog is standing in the shower (curtain still closed, the toy gave away his otherwise stealth maneuvers).
You then watch as he proceeds to lick alllll the water up from the walls and drain left over from your shower that morning. It is then that you realize he has been sitting next to his water dish for about an hour and has now taken matters into his own paws finding the only other source of water in the house that is available to him. Sure, kids were crawling all over him while he sat there by his bowl, and he was looking cute and all, but his objective was obviously not babysitting. To borrow a term from The Pioneer Woman "Home Boy" was thirsty.
Sorry Sam, you've made a lot of sacrifices in the past year...
"...to where I always wanted to be...wanted to be..." Just a little N'Sync for your Tuesday-kinda-like-Monday morning. Enjoy!
