I once possessed a special skill that came in handy during college. Anything I marked with a Hi-liter, I retained in memory for several days. For some classes, I was able to pull an all-nighter, reading the book for the first time, madly highlighting anything and everything remotely important.
My faculty advisor thought it was somehow cheating, but it churned out easy A’s.
Funny how the mind works.
I lost that skill along the way. Memory recall now is much more limited, but my mind is still full of information… mostly boring financial data, SAP, and Excel skills. Today I smiled broadly as I thought how much I would enjoy forgetting it all… in less than 20 weeks.
Then, driving home tonight I thought more about forgetting. It is not the forgetting that will be enjoyable, but the replacing. Exploring Michigan, meeting new people, and most importantly allowing the characters of my first book to become fully alive in my mind.
Replacing…. a beautiful pleasure.