What makes up a memory?
After ~15 years of having a meditation practice, I think I'm finally getting good. At the end of October, I suffered a heart attack and subsequently had a coronary bypass graph. (They harvest veins from your legs and sew it around the blockages on your heart. I'm recovering nicely; I just have to remember to have the patience I'd have for others, for myself. The difficult part was sleeping: it has always been. Because of the pain, I did take pain medication at night, hoping to sleep. I didn't sleep for more than a few minutes at a time and, being older, I had some mild hallucinations.
Sleep has been my 'kryptonite' since I was a little boy. When I was in third or fourth grade, my father told me he could have me taken away in the middle of the night. (I'm not looking. for sympathy.)
After several sleepless nights, someone must have figured it out and I was put in a psychiatric hospital for children. It's only recently that I recalled it partly because the staff, and the patients, called it Pedi-Psy. At the time I didn't realize how they got that name. I don't have much recollection of the experience. It was a hospital that my mother would never have been able to drive to, so I didn't really have visitors. They did have a large and varied library which I enjoyed.
I'm not sure how long I was in there. When I returned, the elementary school thought it would be the perfect time to start me in the next grade. (Schools no longer skip students.) I was bright enough. but lacked any sort of social skills. When I completed Elementary school, the next step was a single building that went from seventh to twelfth grade. Whoever thought that up must have really hated children. ;)
After being there a year, I was skipped over eighth grade. Now I really stood out. I wish I had the courage to ask about all of this before my mother passed. So much of it was a blur. The story doesn't end here, but I'll spare the rest for another day.
#schools #education #childpsychology #downstatemedicalsystem #sleep #memories