Have you heard this news story about the teenager with amnesia? She left Washington State and wound up in Times Square with no idea who she was. It turns out her name is “Kacie Aleece.” I thought then she’d forgotten how to spell it, but it’s in all the papers. As it turns out, her mother died when Kacie was 11, then her Dad had her live with a family friend.
When the father said Kacie had amnesia attacks before (red flag) and that she initially wrote her name as “Amber” (Hint! Amber Alert! I might be missing!) I was a little suspicious.
But then I remembered one day when I was eighteen, an eighteen year old family friend disappeared and was found 200 miles away, showing her driver’s license to strangers. “Do you know who this is?” Kacie is eighteen too.
When Gary was eighteen, his sisters ran off to Hollywood for six months. I recently I asked Gary what he remembered about that, in an attempt to reconcile the three versions of this story (Wilma: “They ran up the credit card and vanished!” Sandy: “Karen made me go” Karen: “Sandy was determined to go and I had to protect her!”)
Gary didn’t remember a bit of it. I mean, he could extrapolate what happened (chaos / prayers / screaming) but had no independent memory of it. “I was eighteen,” he explained. “I was in my own head. Very self-absorbed.”
“That is awful,” I thought, “how could you have no memory of something like that?” When I was nineteen, my brother ran off to California and became a migrant worker. One day Mom woke up and found the Note, and a year later I woke up and found Dave eating a donut in the kitchen. (“Hey.” … “Hey.”)
Dave just called me tonight, and the conversation turned to the woman he lived with after he came back, Cindy.
I asked, “Did I ever meet Cindy?”
“Uh … only every Christmas for four years.” I thought they were together two months.
So, here’s what I think. This girl in New York doesn’t have amnesia, she’s just In Her Own Head. Some kids hide in their rooms and ignore their family dramas, she got so far in her own head she forgot everything.
What do you remember of your family from your late teenage years?
11 responses to “Teenage Amnesia”
Only that in two years I would get the hell out of there and never come back.
So *that’s* what I missed? Being so in my own head that I didn’t notice my family? Because when I was 18, my family was such a shit-storm of tragedy and terminal illness that I had to notice everything.
He just showed up one day a year later? Really?
My family had all moved out by the time I was 16, so it was just Dad and me. And one Christmas even he went away. I’m thinking maybe it was something I did – but I don’t remember. Does that support your theory?
I was 18, 19, 20 in college, and I thought I remembered everything – until I reestablished contact with an old pinochle buddy recently, and he keeps mentioning incidents I swear never happened.
At 18 I was very selfish, self absorbed and lived a lot in my own head. I also was without boundaries or rules living on my own. I was also wide open to be taken advantage of. I cared for people though and still served a purpose. This I remember of me at the time.Today, I’m still kind of selfish but have grown my ability and ambition to care for people. I have a lot of structure now, what with being a wife, mother, nurse, and my caring awesome side dwarfs my selfish, self absorbed side. I hope anyway 😉
Karen ran off to Hollywood? I respect her a bit more today than I did yesterday. She never struck me as the person to run away even to Ballwin.
Becs – Why did you wait until 20?Tami – Damn. I thought it would be Friend 2 who would have the family tragedy at 18.Big Dot – Points for even rmembering any Christmas since you don’t have the weather cues to help you.~~Silk – Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. Dave just told me about a big epic fight I was in with Dad about clothing left in the laundry room. No recall.Mrs Hall – Well, everyone is selfish at 18 though, aren’t they? I didnt think I was, but I guess that’s part of self-awareness.Caroline – the S______ sisters were wild. That comforted me when my neice went through her wild phase, I knew soon enough she’d become conservative.
Sometimes I think I remember something that happened back then, only to have friends insist it never did – odd.And I had an amnesiac episode when I was around fourteen – I “came to” several miles from where I had been last, although I did remember who I was. Spooky.Maybe I’m just crazy.
My brother was away at school. I had a phone, my own phone line, and a television in my bedroom. I only left it to go to school and get drunk on the weekends. Nothing happened when I was a teenager.Then I went away to college. I can’t talk about those years because I may break down and run for public office one day.
I started thinking about it when I was 12. I made my escape when I was 18. I had two more bumps on the runway, then I was done, goodbye, outta there.
RockyCat – Miles away? Did you call your parents or walk back home? Whats the last thing you remember?Hot Mom – and such a cute room too!Becs- Good work.