Jason Bourne: Who has a safety deposit box full of… money and six passports and a gun? Who has a bank account number in their hip? I come in here, and the first thing I’m doing is I’m catching the sightlines and looking for an exit.

Marie: I see the exit sign, too, I’m not worried. I mean, you were shot. People do all kinds of weird and amazing stuff when they are scared.

Jason Bourne: I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab of the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Now why would I know that? How can I know that and not know who I am?

My mother has probably never read Robert Ludlam’s Bourne Identity or seen Jason Bourne fight in Spain or race a car down an Italian street, but her words dripped with sweet truth when she said, When you lose your memory, your identity will follow.

It was profound and deep and true.

Never forgot. Never forget what you’ve been through. Never forget what you’ve seen. Never forget the pain of loss, sweetness of success, or feeling of failure.

Never forget our memories forge our identity.

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