Precious Memories
There’s something deep about holding onto memories long after they’ve passed. Sometimes they arrive unexpectedly: a day spent with a memorable friend you’ll never see again, the face of a deceased family member, or a sentence someone said to you years ago that still lingers. You never quite realize that a moment is becoming a memory until it already has.
We call them “precious” for a reason. They don’t happen every day, and on the rare occasions where they do happen, they rarely announce themselves. Instead, they usually live in the background of life, small, fleeting, and subtle. But they stay with us for a long time. Sometimes for years, sometimes forever.
Reasoning
I’ve wondered what makes certain memories stand out. Why do we remember that conversation, that one blissful dream, that intimate late night spent with friends? Maybe it’s because those memories are tied to some deeper part of ourselves, some turning point in our lives, some realization we’ve made, some fleeting happiness we’re still trying to hold onto. Maybe those moments felt real in a way that most things don’t. Maybe they felt more human. In a world that’s constantly moving, constantly demanding more, those quiet, still memories are reminders that we’ve lived a life full of emotion and meaning.
Eternality
There are people you meet only once, but whose presence in your mind somehow becomes permanent. Maybe it was the way they smiled, the exact way they spoke, or the feeling you got around them, something too intangible to explain but too impactful to forget. It’s amazing how someone can be in your life for a single chapter and still influence the whole story.
And yet, even the most vivid memory fades over time. We forget the specifics—the color of the shirt they wore, the exact words they said, what time it was. But what lasts is the emotional residue: the warmth, the ache, the strange sense of nostalgia that makes your chest tighten when you think about it. There’s a kind of beauty in knowing you can never return to a moment exactly as it was. It reminds you of how precious that moment really was. We take so much for granted while we’re living it.
Fading
It’s inevitable that time will obscure even the clearest of memories. Faces blur. Words jumble. But just because something fades doesn’t mean it disappears. Sure, as time goes on, you tend to remember these “precious memories” less clearly. However, the sentimental value that they hold never fades. So while it may slowly leave your mind, it never truly leaves your heart. We carry in our heart the people we once knew, the things we once felt, the moments that once meant the world to us. They become part of who we are, etched into the fabric of our identity. Even if we can’t describe them perfectly anymore, they’ve changed us.
And that, I think, is what makes these memories truly precious.
Life Update!
ARML was a huge rollercoaster. I met a few amazing people from the IRML team, and I got teased mercilessly by my teammates the entire day because of that. It was all in good fun though, and this year was definitely more memorable than last year. I also performed better than last year, but I hardly contributed on the team round (I think I worked on the wrong problems and so I didn’t have enough time to solve them). However, now I’m back to my daily life, and I need to job hunt desperately. A bit of panic is starting to set in, but if I try diligently enough, everything will be fine.
hm
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