Erasing Memories

In Preparation for a rowing regatta tomorrow the entire team took the day to clean the boats and and make them suitable to present. There is one boat that we were cleaning called "Faith's Fury" (named after a coach) when I noticed that where the name was written on the bow, there was the same name but in different faded lettering. I asked my coach about it. She said that when she rowed in this organization, they named the boat and used electrical tape to write the name on it. When they peeled off the tape, a residual remnant of the name stayed on the boat, later to be written over. Myself and the others cleaning the boat were then told by another coach to simply scrape the residual name off the boat. While we were doing that I could not shake the feeling that I was erasing memories off the boat, stories that the name held. By the time we had finished the residue was off but where it laid the white paint under it had not faded like the rest of the boat. so in a vague white outline you could still see the original Faith's Fury written on the bow. Sure the same name is written on the boat, but it was just different. However knowing that the faded white outline would still be there, made it a bit better.

That's life isn't it, you store up memories, keeping them in hopes of never losing them. But over time the memories kinda fade and eventually get peeled away leaving a residual idea of a memory. Even when the residue is worn away, it seems like you just can't get rid of them.