When traumatic events happen in our lives, it is normal and usual to remember every little detail surrounding those events.
I was in a serious car accident 28 years ago. To this day I remember what I was wearing, what I ate for dinner beforehand, what kind/color car I was riding in, how long my hair was, what the wrecked car smelled like, the name of the man who held the towel to my bleeding head, the misty rain that was falling, the time, temperature, and everything else. I can play it in my head like a recording.
Same for my wedding day. Same for the births of my children. We forget details from days that have no meaning. We remember details from days when important things happen.
I think it is highly suspicious that Terri would forget exactly the who/what/why/where/when and how of everything she did that day. She would have been asked to recite her day within hours of the events. Unless you have had a brain injury, you would remember what you did earlier in the day.
I'm glad I've never been suspected of a serious crime because my memory doesn't work that way at all.
I can remember a couple details from each of my wedding days but those memories only bridge a few minutes, maximum.
I was in a car accident that left me with six broken ribs, a broken clavicle and a bunch of cuts and bruises... and I remember almost nothing of that day. I remember one flash of the actual accident, looking to the side and seeing the car headed directly at me (we were T-boned). I don't remember at all what the actual impact was like. I know that people stopped to help, that there were three ambulances, etc, but I don't have any continuous memories, it's just flashes here and there. The accident is generally a big blur with the occasional scene that stands out clearly.
In fact, come to think of it, I remember very little of how the ribs hurt for the next two months. I know they did and I remember little flashes, like the immense relief when my mother would strap them up. But the pain itself and the things I had to do in my every day life to compensate? Completely gone.
I remember very little of the day I was raped. Just flashes of the actual event. In fact, that added to the trouble I was in because I couldn't remember that evening what my homework assignments were from that day, so I couldn't do them (very unusual for me).
Where my memory is crystal clear is in my professional field. I don't think I have forgotten a single client or the salient details of their interactions with me. I remember clearly tiny details of expression, etc, for many, many years.
I've never thought I was in any way unusual or weird. I just always figured that different people's memories work differently.
Of course, there is the chance that I am totally weird. I have no way of knowing, really.
