I’ve used the line “creating memories” as an excuse as well as a justification to do some really stupid things in my past. But, in my humble opinion, creating memories in life is one of our greatest gifts. Memories allow us to recollect times, places and people who have touched our lives like no other. They allow us to have a healthy cry or to laugh out loud uncontrollably. Memories help to define who we are and what we do.

I was reminded the other day of just how important it is to create new memories whenever possible. I didn’t say “record” new memories. I said, “create” new memories. I was recently taught the difference between the two. My son, Tyler, is 9 years old and we have a few activities we enjoy together. If the weather is nice enough (and by nice enough, I mean as long as we’re not experiencing a monsoon-type rainstorm), we like to go outside and throw football with each other. He’s still helping me with my spiral. If the weather is not conducive, we stay inside and play with his wrestling figures (I know, I know…the apple didn’t fall far from the tree).

When we play with his wrestling figures, the first item on the agenda is to “create a card.” For those of you not that familiar with WWE wrestling, “creating a card” is simply deciding which figure is going to wrestle another figure. Tyler and I usually create 8 or 9 matches that we would love to see and then let the rasslin’ commence. Now, I don’t know if it’s the writer in me, but I always insist on grabbing a pen and paper and jotting down the card before we start. This infuriates Tyler. “This is a waste of time,” he complains. “Why can’t we just start the matches?”

I always counter with, “Don’t you want to remember these matches and who won and lost? One day, you’ll be able to look back and read these notes and remember all the fun.” But the other day, he replied with the best comeback I’ve heard in a long time. He said, “If the memories are good enough, we won’t need your notes to remind us of how much fun we had.”

It probably wouldn’t surprise those of you who know me as to just how often I receive words of wisdom from my children. Tyler was exactly right. I was worried about recording a memory, when he was focusing on creating a memory. Taking notes is not fun. Playing with the wrestling figures is. How did I not see that?

Please don’t hear me saying that taking pictures or journaling are wastes of time. These obviously help us to recall great times. All I’m trying to say is that I hope you’re more mature than me (and I know that is easily 99.9% of the people reading this) and that you concentrate on creating the memory…not recording it.

So the next time you feel like you’re involved in something that has potential to become a classic memory, don’t ask yourself, “What can I do to save this experience?” Ask yourself, “What can I do to ensure that I’ll never forget this experience.” There is a big difference.