Forget Me Not

How many times have you said, "I wish I had a better memory?" Have you said, "Geez I forgot that." Have you always wanted to be able to remember everything?

Did you know that there is a handful of people that can actually remember everything?

42-year-old Jill Price never asks, because she can recall in vivid detail every day of her life since age 14, and many earlier days, too.

'The Woman Who Can't Forget' (Free Press), her new book with writer Bart Davis, tells the story of the first person ever confirmed by scientists to have such a superior autobiographical memory. She was studied by memory experts at University of California-Irvine for six years before they reported the feats of "AJ" in an esoteric professional journal in 2006.

Price is fleshing out this story in the hope, she says, that others like her will come forward for scientists to study. Exploring clues in the brains of memory "overachievers" might hasten discoveries that could help those with memory problems, experts say.

Two other "bona fides" came forward after the journal report in Neurocase, says James McGaugh, the neuroscientist contacted by Price eight years ago because she was bewildered and tormented by her non-stop barrage of memories.

McGaugh, with colleagues Elizabeth Parker and Larry Cahill, gave Price a battery of memory and cognitive tests. She'd kept a diary from ages 10 to 34, so the researchers could verify Price's recollections with pages randomly selected from 1,460 diary days, he says.

But that wasn't all. You could give her a date, "and within seconds she'd tell you what day of the week it was, not only what she did but other key events of the day," McGaugh says. Aug. 16, 1977? A Tuesday, Elvis died. May 18, 1980? A Sunday, when Mount St. Helens erupted. She also quickly could come up with the day and date of noted events: the start of the Gulf War, Rodney King's beating, Princess Diana's death (Aug. 30 or 31, 1997, depending on France or U.S. time, she told McGaugh).

Daily life for Price "is like a split-screen," she says. Though living in the present, "a dozen or more times a day, I'll be cued back to detailed memories of the past."

She'll read a date, see something on TV, hear a song, smell something, "and it can take me back decades," Price says. She'll tell you where she went, what her mom ordered in a restaurant and the friends she saw on routine days many years ago.

The constant onslaught of memories is both a curse and a blessing, Price says. Especially under stress, the good memories give her great comfort. "I have this warm, safe feeling, and I can get through anything." The dark side is that she recalls every bad decision, every insult and excruciating embarrassment. "Over the years, it has eaten me up."

Peaceful sleep is rare because memories assault her, she says. "It has kind of paralyzed my life."

Squelching the gusher of memories isn't an option. "I can't stop, it doesn't work — short of a lobotomy." And, amazingly, she wouldn't stop even if she could. "The idea of losing some of my memories … is actually anxiety-provoking. I've felt an urgent desire to hold on to the days and places and events."

Brad Williams, 51, of La Crosse, Wis., Williams got intensive testing for autobiographical memories in 2006 by McGaugh's team and was found to be in the same league as Price.

The third subject, an Ohio resident, is still anonymous, McGaugh says. Another one to two dozen people are potential candidates, awaiting the time and money for full workups.

And if they consider how Price's memories torment her, baby boomers worried about the hits their memories take from normal aging might see "it's certainly a blessing to forget certain things," Levine says.

I would like a better memory, but I certainly am glad I don't have that kind of memory.

Speaking of remembering , don't forget Sunday is Mother's Day.

If your mother is in another city, take the time to call. If she is in the same city, take the time to see her. If your mother is not alive, take the time to remember her.

Remember to enjoy the weekend!!!