Musey Room

It was not until returning home after moving away for college that I realized the memories you leave behind remain stagnant in time, waiting to be revisited. This past weekend I was home for Easter and I couldn't help reminiscing on all the good (and bad) times I had had growing up. As I lay in bed that night, staring through the dark at my old room, I was overwhelmed with all of the familiar feelings, smells and sounds that rushed over me. On the wall across from my bed still remained the quote I painted on my wall during my sophomore year (I won't recite it here); on the ceiling and left adjacent wall the painted circles (all sizes and colors) remained untouched; against my bed, on the dark purple wall, hung my High School sport posters, metals and honors, as if I never left. I must have lay in my bed for hours recounting the personality of my room, trying to stow away the smallest of details to later extract from memory. I thought of all the mornings I had flown out of bed at the last second, wolfed down breakfast and rushed to school. I thought of all the sleepovers and laughter my room had witnessed. It was at some point in the early morning I realized how much I missed those times, those memories. I wouldn't want to go back and relive the memories, but just to travel back in time and watch those moments that change your life play out before your eyes, wouldn’t that be something. But of course, isn't that what memory palaces are for; a vehicle to take you back in time as if you were a bug on the wall, a witness to your future?

Ahhh I digress… here is the point:  

My mother and I pulled out an old scrap book and spent an entire night blubbering over the cute baby pictures, the crazy hair styles and the eccentric outfits. One picture in particular brought back the strangest rush of emotions; I was wearing a shirt that had a clip art polar bear above the word "CHILL." Immediately I could see a specific setting and I could feel .... I can't put my finger on it. The setting was not one I could describe but even as I write this I can see it clear as day. Strange.

 OF COURSE. It hit me. I knew what I wanted to present as my musey room....

I have decided to build a model of a house, or a combination of houses that will contain photographs of memories that evoke strong emotional responses. A musey room presentation presents a difficult challenge in the sense that no one can quite put a finger on their own imagination, their own memory palace. Presenting a musey room to the class is like trying to contain the vastness of the universe. Describing your life in five words or less would perhaps prove to be less challenging than building a physical representation of what our minds invent. But, through the power of images, photographs and memories, I will attempt to present a physical musy room based on my experiences. Let the creativity begin.