Creating Long Term Memories by Losing a Parking Lot

Almost two years ago I remember how I went over the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time with my good friend Ramon Morales and his lovely wife Denise. I had wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge in person since I was a kid.  My second grade teacher Mrs. Pomales showed us a picture of her trip to San Francisco  in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and since that day I wanted to see it myself.  That special moment of driving over the Golden Gate Bridge with someone who I consider a great friend will stay with me for the rest of my life.

My first time at Disneyland I was working for KPMG and we where close to Anaheim working at a client site. We worked even more than usual for three days and on the fourth day we left early and went to Disneyland. I went with my co-workers Yumi Nishiyama and Robert Nodine, I have not talked to them in years and probably might not see them again but I will never forget the two people I was with when I went to my first Disney Park.

Becoming Part of Other People’s Memories

This same way I might have attempted to create a similar experience to become of part of someone past memories when last year I had the opportunity to spend time with my good friend Javier and his significant other Yvonne Perez at Disneyland. It was special because it had been the first time for Yvonne at a Disney park. A truly magical experience for all of us but I am sure that Yvonne will remember the day that she visited a Disney park and I was so happy to be a part of that experience.

Parking Area P1

My second day in Austin this past SXSW I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with James Fierce and Nando Caban. We went to have lunch at Casa de Luz an awesome Vegan Non-for profit restaurant.  After lunch Mr. Fierce was nice enough to take me to grab my badge at the convention center. Given how crowded I knew it would get the first day of the conference I made sure to pick it up on the day before SXSWi started.

While being focused on reaching the convention center we parked the car James was driving on parking area P1 (will probably never forget that area). James and I made sure we remembered what area of the parking we parked in and P1 was pretty much instilled in our brains. We walked around Downtown Austin searched for a Coffee shop had coffee and then decided to head back to the car because we had a two hour limit on visitor parking.

Memorize the Parking Spot but not the Lot

For the first time in my life and for James we realized that we had lost the parking building and lot instead of the parking spot. We knew very well what area of the parking spot we had parked in, but forgot to actually memorize which building we parked in.

1^st time losing a Parking Lot

After we laughed at ourselves on how focused we where on looking at the smaller detail of the space we clearly forgot the bigger part which was memorizing the location of the lot. Although we both dropped the ball we clearly saw an opportunity to laugh and create an experience neither of us will forget. If I am old and lucky enough to have grand kids I might tell them that story and I will never forget I was with James Fierce when that happened.

Making the best of it

We had a good laugh told other people. James wrote an awesome post about it and overall we went along enjoying the rest of our experience. It also helped that a Pedi cab (picture above) was very helpful in helping us identify the streets we had navigated on our way to the convention center.

Unique Experiences

When was your last Unique Experience and will you be ready to make the most of your next one?

Feel free to share what experiences you have had lately that have created possible long lasting memories.