You have been given a pensieve. It's a cheap one, though, so it can only ever hold one memory for you to review.

What single memory do you put in your pensieve?

Mine: my memory of hiking Torres del Paine in Patagonia. Means I can go visit one of the most beautiful places on earth any time I like.

 

When I was eighteen I was driving my sister home from our theater practice. It was just like any other night. I wasn't a crazy, overconfident driver. I got to an intersection that I had crossed a thousand times and I crossed it and immediately got broadsided. I couldn't tell what was happening or where I was facing. My foot was still on the pedal for some reason and I ran into a sign. My sister momentarily lost consciousness, but I don't think she realized it. Eventually I got the damn car off the road and waited for the other driver, who said she didn't know whether the light was green or not, but that changed when the police showed up. There was no way to establish fault, so they just let both of us go. The old car I was driving was basically destroyed.
I just really want to see if the light was fucking green.

 

It was late at night at this gorgeous beach, I was playing video games while my brother was watching me.
My family was telling stupid jokes and ruining the vibe and yet I loved them for it because it made me giggle uncontrollably.

Spoiler: Kelibia Beach

 

It was not that long ago.
Summer of 2018, just after medical school exams.
Everyone was back from grad trip, before work started.
A bunch of my close friends from medical school went to have a party at my crush's house. Of course there was alcohol and drinking games involved, all the drama of people attached to other people making out with each other, people vomiting in the toilet, truth and dare etc.
But at one point everyone sat down to just chill after some drinks, and I took the piano seat. I hadn't play in 3-4 years. But it was such a carefree moment because there we were, before all the adult responsbilities, debt and worries kicked in, feeling free for once in our lives after completing college.
So I started playing some common songs from memory. I was definitely rusty. But people were singing along. And my crush sat down next to me to watch me play and sing with me. At one point it was just two of us singing one of my favourite chinese love songs, swaying and enjoying the music, and leaning into each other. And at that moment, I hoped we would never grow old.
My friends secretly filmed the memory and sometimes when I have a horrible day I will rewatch it.

 

Yeah. I remember my last holiday with my mother. I'd do that. What a horrible thread Taure.

 

I'd go back and view the moment my friend hit me with a go-kart. It'd be hilarious. We both saw each other a mile off - I panicked and froze and HE panicked and hit the accelerator instead of the brakes. Whooooom, kersplat.

Somehow, instead of getting bowled over by the thing, I managed to catch it -- one hand on both poles of the rollcage (how!?) so I was carried off a good distance just staring into his face of terror, screaming at him to find the brakes.

 

My honest answer is the boring one... I'd wait for a more momentous memory that I felt like putting in the pensieve.

There are plenty of things I'd wish to revisit; good times, fond memories with my grandparents before their death, really dark moments that might be worth revisiting for closure.

If I had to pick one such memory today it'd be very hard to choose between things like going to Disney with my family for the first time, a particularly dark day back during the period of my life my parents convinced me on doing this "conversion therapy" thing (that I'm not getting into over here), or... you know what, I know exactly what I'd go for.

It was my first time traveling out of the country completely by myself. I had saved money for over a year and I'd had enough with dealing with my family's expectations and pressures so I gave myself a trip to Vegas for my 21st birthday. There are plenty of memories to choose from that trip, but I'm going with walking the Strip in the middle of the night that first night, no real plan in mind. It was the first time I had felt at peace in years.

 

At my elementary school at the end of the year, we would hold a softball game between the 5th grade class and the teachers. 9 times out of 10, these games are curbstomps in favor of the teachers, so when my homeroom kept the game scoreless into the last inning, that was already better than most classes accomplished. I was a short, scrawny socially awkward dipshit who almost nobody liked and who liked almost nobody, so I was shunted to the back of the batting order. I went up in that last inning, fouled twice, then hit the ball straight towards the pitcher's mound. He caught it and throw it to first for an easy out.

But then the first baseman fumbled the catch spectacularly, and the ball flew right into the backstop behind him. By the time he'd retrieved it, I'd already scrambled all the way to third. The following player batted me home, at which point my classmates actually lifted me up over their heads and carried me away in triumph. I think I had to remind them that the teachers were up to bat after us, but that jolt of confidence led to three immediate outs and us winning the game. I'm really not proud of the person I was back then, taking everything as a personal affront and getting in fights over anything and everything, but that one moment of acceptance was, well, it was really something.