memories

Lately I have been having a lot of intense memories from long ago, and I have been thinking about the role of memory in shaping my present consciousness. I realize that most of my memories from childhood are either sad or frightening or depressing; they are rarely happy. My happy memories center more on my friends, especially when I was in high school, after my family had fallen apart and I was more or less independent to do as I pleased. And my happy memories from childhood, when my family was still intact, focus on my friends as well. I don't really have any happy memories of my parents together, or of our family doing fun family things. We rarely did. We only took one "real" vacation ever, when I was eight and we went to Maine and New England and Canada. We never took another trip after that.