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Ask your siblings about a family trip they all went on together.

I did it myself. My sister remembers everything one way. I remember it completely differently. Same car. Same parents. Same route. Same stops. Everyone was there.

Ask them and listen to their stories.

One remembers it as the best trip of his life: laughter in the backseat, word games, snacks, the anticipation of the destination. Another remembers being bored and uncomfortable in the middle seat, constantly asking, "Are we there soon?" and being told to keep quiet. A third barely remembers the trip at all: he brought a book and read the entire way, completely disconnected from the proceedings.

Who is right?

Everyone. And no one.

Memory isn't a video camera capturing objective truth. Memory is a reconstruction. Your brain takes fragments—images, emotions, sensations—and constructs a story from them every time you recall something. And that story changes depending on what meaning you need from it right now.

The sibling who remembers the trip as a wonderful experience may have been in a great mood that day, or perhaps they desperately needed a good family memory, and their brains supplied it. The bored child may have been going through a tough week, and the trip was just another challenge. The reader found their own escape, and it was exactly what they needed.

The same experience. Three completely different memories. And they are all real. They are all true for whoever has them.