Luckily for me and my memory, Bev, I've always been a writer. Not always a good writer, but good enough to trigger memories. I kept little notebooks and scrapbooks filled with 'happenings' from the time I learned to write and have had them for all these years. Now, things will trigger an event or occasion, a scent, a bloom, a word or two - and I dig out those notebooks.
The other thing I have is quilts, all made by the women in my life, and all of them have scraps from the clothes Mom made for me. So with every quilt there will be fabric pieces that yet again, trigger my memories; like the pajamas in the snake story. And photos. I have tons of old b/w photos. It also helps that I have a lot of notes that belonged to my grandmothers, my grandfather, Mom, and also some that belonged to Aunt Bett. I guess I've always been a keeper of 'notes'.
I started turning the old notebook writings into articles after my husband died, so that my children would be able to know what I had learned, how I had grown up. So I just keep on writing. Thanks to all, like you, who keep on reading.