Eleven Years of Youth

Eleven years: not too long, not too short. But they were the prime years of youth. Perhaps what is worth remembering isn't just that person, but all the things we call youth that everyone experiences. Maybe an imperfect youth is the most worth remembering, after all, we only get it once. Maybe everyone's youth is full of regrets. As Hemingway said, "The greatest regret in life is that a person cannot experience youth and feel what it's like to be young at the same time."

They say time is the best medicine for healing everything. That does seem to be true. The unforgettable memories of those days gradually blurred with the passage of time, and many things can no longer be recalled. Those burning emotions slowly lost their warmth. But inevitably, scattered memories slowly congeal around certain key moments. They may not resurface often, but whenever something touches those knots, the pain returns, magnifying the sorrow until tears spill from our eyes.