image via jellyfish.iup.edu
Memory is a funny thing...Some areas of the memory are tapped into for bits of fleeting information, some areas are covered over intentionally and continually resurface at inappropriate times, and yet there are other areas that are completely unexplained, those of real waking dreams and déjà vu. The memory of associations with previous experiences can leave you totally debilitated, in a sort of trance, daydreaming. Some mornings, right before I am completely aware and awake, I have very specific and intense Polaroid snapshots that float suddenly to the surface and jolt my memory like a shot in the arm.
This morning I was drifting into consciousness when an image of a lake started to materialize in my brain, and then I was rowing in an aluminum boat with heavy oars, looking down into the glassy green water, watching jellyfish. After coffee I closed my eyes and tried to revisit this lost photograph, and suddenly I remembered August at Sherando Lake, floating in the warm lake over the sandy bottom, and watching small jellyfish the size of gumballs undulate mysteriously through the freshwater current.
I remembered seeing the jellyfish every few years. It was always a coronation day when the tiny glassine flying saucers appeared, and they arrived literally overnight in multitudes. I would awake with my father to go from our cabin down to the lake shore to ‘help’ him rake the beach and prepare for the onslaught of visiting tourists. As I tossed rocks and sticks into the water,(careful to remove any clinging insects first), I would always note the arrival of the jellys. My brother and I would catch them in jars to watch them for a few moments, before my mother explained how they missed their families, and we would return them to frolic, as jellyfish do in the gentle tides of the lake.
The memory for me is, in itself, romantic enough to carry me into a creative frenzy, but there’s also a little curiosity that grabs me, and I really want to know where these little things come from…so here’s a link to a very informative site about these freshwater friends. http://www.jellyfish.iup.edu/
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