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[Saratoga_Mike]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

That might be the case, but memories from 36 years ago?...How accurate can they be, in a drunken stupor?

Here's a personal experience of my memory accuracy:

Up until 5 years ago, I always thought of x-mas at my Grandparents with a certain magical quality, the beautiful tree with it's bubble lights, white flocked with tinsel, and a small train set running in a circle at the base of the tree. This memory has always put a smile on my face, up until 5 years ago, when a family reunion was held on the west coast.

My sister had in her possession an old reel from those years of x-masses past, and had that reel transferred to a DVD. She played it at our gathering, and with the x-mas scenes coming up, I was ready to feel that magical moment, when suddenly.....What happened to our Grandparent's X-mas tree? It was scrawny and green, not flocked white, then suddenly the scene shifted to my Great Aunt's X-mas gathering, and there was the TREE of my memories at HER home....I couldn't understand how my memory had transposed the two, but there was the evidence, plain to see....

From that moment on, I realized that my memory, which everyone says is incredibly sharp, had indeed made it's own version of a happy time, just transposed it from my great aunt, who I had mixed feelings about, to my grandparents, who I loved and respected very much.....You just never really know when that amount of time passes what truly transpired.

Apples and cucumbers. Where were you on 9/11? Where were you when you heard the news? I'd bet a fortune you know the answer. If you don't, you have a very faulty memory, which I don't believe is the case. Why am I convinced you would correctly remember where you were when 9/11 happened and equally confident what you posted above is true? Easy, traumatic events are seared into one's brain, while nostalgia/wishful thoughts of childhood memories with your grandparents are not. Therefore, if what she's saying is true, her memory of it would most likely be radically better than yours of a Christmas tree.