Mood: Contemplative. Topic: Slideshows

I sit and look out the window with the passing traffic building up in the early hours of Saturday. My friend J sits in front of me tucking into the wholesome serving of fried bacon, poached eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes we both ordered as a special treat for a long day. Soul food.

I look at her slowly disappearing pile, I look at mine. I look outside again. The quiet stillness inside the cafe - a prelude to the busy day ahead, like the eye of a storm - is broken momentarily by the shrill sound of the coffee machine, creating another brew to save another sleepy soul.

Then a thought strikes. This is a memory that would last, something that would be remembered for a long time. Not due to anything of significance, but because of its ordinariness. And many months later, I'm still able to go back like it had just happened.

We create memories every day - most fleeting, some lasting, a handful forever. Have we control to dictate which? I'd like to think so. Lately, I force, nay, for that word carries a negative connotation... Rather, I welcome the opportunity to burn the memories in my mind of things big and otherwise, like snapshots forever captured, frozen in time, to be remembered and made to surface, and to feel what was felt at the time.

Dinner tonight was sublime. Good food, great company. Laughter, a background music to the interplay of words, ideas and thoughts. Friends make it easier to remember, makes it harder to forget, makes the effort worthwhile. Leave the cameras at home - they don't capture the feelings, the emotions. The slideshows of your mind.

If only I hadn't had that whole bottle of wine, I may yet remember this tomorrow morning. Thank goodness for blogs.