Forgetting

As of tomorrow, I will be six months out of my surgery for my ACL repairs. The typical full recovery for an ACL repair is nine months, so I have three left to go. With the exception of the sets of exercises I need to do everyday, my life has returned back to normal, more or less.

What are the benefits of remembering what has happened and what are the benefits of forgetting? Humans started writing things down thousands of years ago so we could remember things, whether it was how much we paid for a cow, or stories of war and adventure. What did we do right, where did we err?

Should I try to remember everything about my accident and its subsequent recovery process? Should I think about it, or just keep plugging away, each day a fresh page and the day before gone forever? Should I look back and see how far I've come, or just look forward to where I will be going?

What about the Boy? I am better off forgetting the challenges he faced last year in school and earlier this summer, or should I give him a clean slate when he comes back from camp? Does remembering help or hurt, or does it depend how we use it?