Memories That Are Too Real

I've been hearing different examples from Meredith lately about how she places a visual memory over top of what she sees in real time.  She says that when that happens, it is really blurry around the edges and then she sees the visual memory clearly in focus.  I think most of us probably have visual memory, but can you actually "place" that memory on top of what you're seeing in front of you? 

For example, today we were dropping my younger son off at Elementary School where Meredith used to attend.  I made a comment when we drove past the playground that she must think of her best friend everytime we passed it because they played together almost every day on that playground for six years.  She said that in fact, when she looks at this particular piece of playground equipment, she sees her and her best friend playing.  The way she described it kind of reminded me of "Wayne's World" for those of you who remember that skit from Saturday Night Live.  She thought it was funny that she could actually see herself there.

I asked her if she had other experiences like that and she said that she does.  This past year, we moved, but only two houses away.  Since we've moved, another family has moved into our old house and they have a little girl who Meredith has become friends with.  I imagined that when Meredith goes to play over at her old house, she probably has a lot of experiences like that because of her long history in that house.  Then she told me a funny story.

She said that when she was in the living room of the old house one day, she could see our old furniture there, kind of like how she could see her and her friend playing on the playground.  Except that she must have forgotten that the furniture really wasn't there anymore.  So when she went to sit down on the "virtual" couch, she actually fell on the floor.  Her friend laughed at her wondering why in the world she fell right in the middle of the floor. 

How in the world can you explain to someone what happened in that situation?  "Oh, I was just going to sit down on the couch that I saw there, but really isn't there anyore."  Makes me wonder how many times she has done things like that and I made some snarky comment to her wondering what she was up to.  And who in the world would think to ask, "Did you see something there from an old memory?"