Fragmented Memories

I have been on a week long vacation to an area where I lived for 33 years.  So many things have changed, some things have stayed the same, some things are the same as they were decades before we arrived.

As we drove the back roads, fragments of memory would arise as we went past this turn in the road, that road sign, the house tucked back in, almost out of sight.  What was the occasion, or what meeting for which cause.  Emotions would surface; some stressful, what was the trigger?, what was the feeling?

It seemed the older memories were more complete than the more recent and this made me feel old.  We often hear that "old" people remember what happened eons ago but not what happened yesterday.  Is it all just part of the brain holding on to happy memories and discarding the rest?

My mother said people should keep moving to different places so memories of, "the way things used to be", wouldn't prematurely age them.  It worked for her; she lived to 88+ and never got old.  If you moved often enough you wouldn't have to go nuts trying to remember what restaurant or shop was here before this one (only 3 years ago).

I thought as I roamed my old haunts, I would see people I knew and familiar faces.  It only happened once.  Maybe I have forgotten faces as well.

I read once, that sheep could remember up to a dozen faces for many years (even if they moved).  I wonder if other memories are fragmented for them?