I never read Marcel Proust’s seven-volume novel Remembrance of Things Past known both for its length and focus on involuntary memories as launchpads for the larger story. The taste of a madeleine cake dipped in tea prompts the narrator to have a childhood memory of eating the same snack which leads to other memories.
I had an involuntary memory myself recently. I was fascinated by the discovery in southeastern Iran of an ornate chlorite vial presumed to be a 4,000-year-old lipstick. While not confirmed to be lipstick, the study authors said the materials that composed the cosmetic were “fully compatible with recipes for contemporary lipstick.” It was unearthed after a flood exposed the contents of graves in the area. Researchers guess it might have been part of a funeral ritual but also a cosmetic for lips and cheeks used by both women and men.
The discovery of this lipstick brought me right back to a childhood memory of a forbidden exploration in my mother’s purse. Her red lipstick in a gold tube with matching gold compact and mirror were my two biggest finds. I can close my eyes now and smell them as vividly as if I were holding them.
Did it jumpstart an epic novel or novella, a short story or even a flash fiction? No. I think the paragraph above is all I’m getting, at least for now. It did make me think of all that mothers hold, not just in their purses but in their hearts and the small pleasures they allow themselves and what they cost to purchase on a tight budget. And it is not only our birth mothers, or mothers who took us in, or the women in our lives who become like mothers who hold so much for us but also what Mother Earth and Mama Ocean hold unasked, a list of discoveries and abuses too long to itemize.
Oh, the things they keep revealing about our behavior and past civilizations, our greed and fears, our hearts’ desires and how things change but remain the same. We are forever finding ourselves, in memories, in unexpected discoveries and stories, even in loss, often in loss. Like Narcissus staring at his reflection, it’s compelling and mystifying. Who are we? These unexpected journeys of discovery are part of our evolution of love and compassion, of understanding our world, ourselves and each other.
Divine Ready 