The Liminal Spaces of My Mind

Every night, right as I lay down and try to go to sleep, my mind takes a trip down memory lane. However, they aren't the memories that most people are accustomed to. In these memories, I don't revisit a particular moment that took place; rather, I just revisit places I have been to before. And, for whatever reason they always tend to be LIMINAL SPACES -- even the most populated places will be completely devoid of people.

I have been attempting to write down these spaces anytime they pop back into my head. There must be a good 20 places that I always revisit when I close my eyes. Here are the ones I have been able to keep track of...

#1: My Old Elementary School: a memory that should be filled with children instead appears to me desolate and empty. I walk the hall filled with humming fluorescent lights, but there is never anyone else. Even stranger: if I catch sight of a window or an open door, outside is always a stormy, grey twilight.

#2: My Childhood Church: I never actually step inside the building. Instead, I am outside on the street, as though I were waiting for the bus. Although it sits on the corner of a busy intersection, there are never any cars or pedestrians.

#3: Observatory Room in Luigi's Mansion: I have not played this game since I was 9, yet this one specific room in the game continues to HAUNT my memories! 👻

#4: Third Floor of My High School: the third floor is where my science and math classrooms were (sometimes there are other students in this recollection! 🤪). And no, THIRD floor is NOT a mistake! My high school was huge because it needed to accommodate nearly 3,000 students!

#5: Parking Lot out West: my ex and I drove cross-country all the way to British Columbia. We stopped somewhere, in the middle of an empty parking lot, with the August afternoon sun heavily beating down on us. I remember taking a photo of a mural and talking about visiting a local library. My ex had just come back from a bar, where he played an old arcade game.

#6: Second Parking Lot: I often visit another parking lot that we stopped at out west. We were out front of a Tim Horton's, about to grab breakfast, when my ex and I got into a disagreement: I wanted to go home, and he didn't. I remember him talking on the phone with his parents, both of them agreeing that we should come back...

#7. The Walk to My OLD School: this was the very first school that I ever attended. My mom used to walk with me in the mornings, and I always recall the last few steps in the neighborhood before approaching my school.

These are the memories I have managed to keep a record of thus far. What about you? Are there moments that your mind constantly wanders back to? Sometimes even just closing my eyes for awhile is enough for one to pop into my head!