My memory is not that great. With medications and chronic pain and fatigue, my memory (in general) is kind of pathetic.
I remember virtually nothing from high school, I can even look through my old year books and recognize faces but not know one single thing about most of the people I went to school with. I have long forgotten the details of family vacations, I remember very little from my classes when I was completing my undergraduate degree, I can't remember many terms/definitions, and my thought processes are sluggish.
I do, however, have a very significant propensity for memorizing music/lyrics/lines and quotes. Although that is not the point.
I have noticed, over the past several months, when I take a certain medication, I have all sorts of random memories - some I have not thought of in 15-20 years. Just this random image will float into my consciousness and I will have a memory of an event, even though I had no memory of a memory barricaded in there.
It happens every single time.
Most of the time, however, my thought processes won't flow together properly, so when I finally get a grip on that floating memory, it dissipates.
Then I just have the memory of remembering a memory I had forgotten even existed.
(Take a sec to wrap your brain around that).
It is a fascinating side effect, and I always feel nostalgic when these thoughts pour in.
Pretty cool.
(Just as a side note, this is a new-ish medication - one that I had never been taking during the time these memories were developed. So this is not some kind of state-dependency issue).
Perhaps it can be used, in the future, as a form of treatment for people who have repressed memories, fainting spells/black-outs, maybe even patients with mild forms of dementia/amnesia etc...
All I know is that, for many nights, I just lie back in bed and graciously host nostalgic images into my mind.