Rhetoric final

The interviewees discuss how memories are attached to places, specifically their Pawpaw's farm. They talk about specific memories that come flooding back when they visit the farm, such as riding four-wheelers, playing in the basement, and making popcorn. They also mention how the sights, smells, and feelings of the farm help jog their memories. The interviewees emphasize that being in the place allows them to remember more details and brings back emotions associated with the memories. They believe that without the place, certain memories may have been forgotten or not remembered as vividly. The interviewees also mention the sentimental value and gratitude they feel towards the farm and the memories associated with it. Whenever you think about something or an individual moment, everything is wrapped in memories. Every moment of our life, every second of every minute of every day is held in memories. Once all is said and done, that's all we have. There's something special about how memories can be attached to a place. The way it can bring back the memories and make you feel as if the events occurred recently is hard to understand. For me specifically, I feel this way when I go back to my Pawpaw's farm. Nearly every time we pull up the gravel drive, the memories come flooding back. Certain memories consistently come back right whenever we arrive. I remember hopping out of the car and sprinting up the driveway and hearing my feet crunch beneath me from the gravel and just looking for my Pawpaw wherever he was. Now every time I walk on gravel, I'm reminded of the farm. Places have a way of bringing memories back. To further understand this, I'm here with my sister Madeline for an interview. She's three years older than me, and so we share many similar experiences when it comes to the farm. I think it's best to hear her thoughts and just overall hear what she thinks about how memories are affected by a place. Alright, I'm here with Madeline. This is my sister. Okay. Hi! Alright, so Madeline, to what degree do you think a place can bring memories back to you? Well, I'm a very nostalgic person, so I'd say it's very common for places to bring back memories to me, especially whenever it comes to my childhood. But just being in certain settings really, like, I don't know, just brings me back to certain times in my life. Yes. Alright, so whenever you go back to the farm, what kind of memories come back? This could be any memory or just specifically those that involved Paw Paw. Like any stories or anything or... Yeah, I'd say there's a lot of memories that come back. The first thing that I think of is whenever we used to ride around in four-wheelers on the farm with Paw Paw. It's such a sweet memory because we were really little and we couldn't reach the paddles, but he would always hit them for us when we'd sit on his lap, and it was just so fun being a little kid driving around because that's something that obviously grown-ups do, and kids usually don't get to do that, so that was really sweet. And then we played a lot in Paw Paw's basement with Paw Paw, and that was just always so fun because you'd go through old stuff, like mom's old toys, and it was just really cool just to, I don't know, see everything that they had whenever they were kids. And then I'd also say him making us popcorn, which is such an obscure memory that he would make it from scratch, I guess, and he would always make them fancy and just do it so well. Those are definitely the memories that come to mind whenever I first think about everything. What about going back there do you think brings back the memories? Do you think it's the way it smells, because I know it has a specific smell there, or just the sounds and how it feels? I would say all of the above, especially whenever we go back and we go in old barns and things like that, it smells like farm equipment, which is something that we're not typically around every day, so I'd say those smells definitely do jog a lot of memories. And then just the way that it feels as well, just being in that place, there's a lot of sentiment attached to it. So I would definitely say whenever we do go there, there's just a lot of memories that come to mind that I may have forgotten about, like being in certain settings, just because of those things. So you think that you would have forgotten the memories had it not been us being able to consistently go back and see where things took place and rejog what the memories are? I wouldn't have forgotten about them, but I just think there's some obscure details that, like with time, you just forget about things. So like the big memories, like kind of what I was talking about earlier, like being on the four wheelers and playing in his basement, like I never would have forgotten about that. But sometimes, I don't know, if we go to certain places, it can just jog memories like I wouldn't have had. So I definitely would say it helps remember things that I wouldn't have entirely forgotten about everything. Yeah. Well, that's all I got. All right. It was an honor speaking with you. So one big thing I saw in that interview was her mainly talking about how a place can give us the ability to remember more details of the memory just because you're there and you can see it, you can smell it, you can feel it. And that might go away if the place is not involved over time because you typically do forget the details of a memory or just any moment in time. So I thought that was a pretty big takeaway from that. For me, though, one of my most vivid memories came from the day we drove up and Papa was on the combine, which is a big piece of machinery. It was red. It's used to get I guess he was harvesting corn or something. But I sprinted from the combine or I sprinted from the car to get to the combine. I climbed in it and we talked for a good bit. And I remember on the way out, seeing a bag of peanut butter crackers sitting on the dashboard that he would eat whenever he was hungry. I don't know why I remember that, but that always stuck with me. Now, he'd been battling cancer for a long time or as long as I could remember. And then several years after this, he ended up passing away from the cancer. We had a funeral. And then later after that, we held a memorial service in Palmerville, which is where the farm is, so people could come and kind of tell their stories about him and what he'd done for them. And after all this, I remember walking to the shop where he kept all the equipment and I climbed into the big red combine. I remember whenever I opened the door, there was this hot, humid air that hit me because it had been sitting there all summer. But anyway, I sat down in the passenger seat and just sat there for a while. And when I finally got up and got out of it, out of the combine, I remember looking down at the dashboard and seeing those same peanut butter crackers that were there. And whenever this happened, I remember just all the memories kind of coming back to me about that day. And just about him in general, the time I'd spent with him. There are so many emotions I felt in that moment, and there's all due to this place bringing the memories back. And I felt like that was a pretty big example of how a place can bring memories back, whether that be just small details or ginormous moments in general. The next person I'm interviewing is my mom. She grew up on the farm, so she has a lot more insight on this and just experience on the farm than I do in general. Pawpaw was her dad, so she's definitely got a lot more memories tied to the farm than I do. So I think it's best to get an interview with her and just to see what she thinks about how a place can affect memories and just talk about the memories in general. Given that you grew up on the farm, do you have a lot of memories associated with it? I would say, of course I do. I really relate almost everything back to the farm, just from what I've learned. And yeah, so many memories. Okay, so when you were growing up, because you grew up there, what were some of your favorite things to do on the farm, whether that had been with Pawpaw or just on your own? Oh, well, I love the animals, so we didn't have chickens or pigs or anything like that, but we did have dogs and cats, and I loved, loved, loved playing with them when I was really small. And we had Angus cattle as I grew up, and I loved doing things with them from feeding them to helping move them. And there were times whenever we would have to feed the babies a bottle, and I always loved doing that. And I just loved going out with my dad on the tractor. I didn't do that a lot, but it was kind of a treat whenever we would get to go out with him and just spend part of the day out in the field with him. And then as I got older, I helped some and didn't always love that, but it was really good for me, and now I kind of miss it. Okay, so whenever you go back to the farm now, what are some of the kind of like more specific memories that you have of the farm, like whenever you go back just being there and walking around and doing stuff like that? Well, when I'm there, I have a little bit of sadness when I'm there, because obviously since my dad has died, and so I miss him and I miss being there with him. And just, I think I'm just thankful that I was able to grow up there. I'm thankful for all the hard work that my dad put in to grow that farm, and I'm just thankful that we still get to use it. Thankful for just the type of life that we led growing up, and I've learned so much, so many things I know now because of where I grew up. Just things that I think are common knowledge I realized as an adult they're not, and that comes from being there. So when I'm at the farm, I just, I would say I'm sad but thankful. And specific memories, I just remember, especially when I was little, the fun things we would do. Like we would have friend saver, and there was just a lot of freedom that you don't have whenever you don't live somewhere like that. We would play hide and seek at night, and we would play kick the can, and it was just so much fun to be out there and have so much space, and really go wherever we wanted to without any fear or worries. Also, the other thing is just going for walks and taking little trails down to the creek and things like that. Those are things I think about when I go home. Yeah, so would you say that whenever you go back now, do you think the memories become more vivid because it's kind of like you're there and you're seeing the same things you saw? Of course, yes. Okay, like how so? How much more so do those memories come back when you're actually at the farm as opposed to just thinking about them? Well, I think anytime you're immersed in something, your memories from that time kind of flood back, and so I think that's the case no matter where you are. But obviously, when you're there, you get reminded all the time. When I'm not there, I'm not thinking about it most of the time, but when I am there, I am thinking about it. For instance, I think we were there a few years ago, and y'all climbed the grain dens, and I had thought about that. I don't think about that, but it's not a safe thing to do, and I loved doing that and used to play in the trucks around the grain dens and just all the equipment there that I used to be able to climb on, and if it wasn't being used, we would pretend we were using it. We would pretend we were driving a truck or we would pretend we were driving a tractor, and so those types of things I reminisce about when I am there that I don't think about anymore when I'm away. Yeah. Do you think that kind of part of the reason being somewhere brings back memories is kind of just because it still smells the same, looks the same, the sounds, and it just kind of feels how it used to? Do you think that's kind of why? Yeah, yeah, but I would say that, again, that would be anywhere. I think the farm's a little bit different because it's not like a house, you know? It's a place, a big place, and I think there's something different about land, and I know my dad loves the land, and I have a little bit of that in me. Like, I don't ever want a small backyard, and I need space, and so definitely, yeah, being there, it sparks your memory because things are familiar. I think that's the same case anywhere. I think there's a little bit of a, I don't know, like an attachment to that place, to that land, just in your heart, and I can't really explain that. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you. So, hearing that, I feel like it made me think about how memories are tied to a place, not only that, but they also affect the way we think later on, as you saw or heard her say at the end, how she doesn't want a small backyard ever just because she grew up on the farm, and her memories are attached to that. So, overall, there are just some memories that are unforgettable, whether that be heartwarming or heart-wrenching. They can be the most beautiful things we have, or the most sorrowful. There's this inexplicable way that a place can make a memory seem so vivid, as if it had just happened. Something about the sounds, and the smells, and the feelings you get attached to your memories from a place, this leaves that place becoming more significant than you thought it ever would. It becomes not just a part of your memories, but ultimately, it becomes a part of you. It becomes a part of you.