Memory can be a tricky thing, even for those of us who are still in our 20s.

I was on the phone with my mother last week, discussing a funeral visitation I had been to — which triggered a conversation about a bit of family lore that I’d often repeated as an amusing story to friends and acquaintances for more than a decade.

The way I told the story was that at my maternal grandfather’s funeral, the family was gathered for the visitation and was led in to view the body before all of the well-wishers and family friends arrived.

I was around 7 or 8 at the time, making my younger sister Ansley 3 or 4, the age where children are finally able to be fully aware of their surroundings and able to comment on them.

As we were led into the room and saw my grandfather laid out in his casket, my sister walked up to the casket, turned her head quizzically and said exactly what she was thinking — “Why is Paw Paw up there in the treasure box?”

It made perfect sense. A toddler would have no concept of what death truly is, and, in her defense, coffins do bear a resemblance to treasure chests.

I laughed about the experience as I was talking to Mom, only to have her pause and reply “That wasn’t Paw Paw’s funeral.”

I immediately protested, saying it was she who didn’t remember clearly, as I had been telling that story for years — I had it down to an art form, as if I was reading it right off a page.

“No, it wasn’t your grandfather’s funeral,” she maintained, calling my father over to aid her in the argument.

Dad agreed with Mom’s assessment, and was even able to correctly place the event as happening at my Great Aunt Eunice’s funeral up in Eclectic, Alabama — an aptly named setting for such an event.

Up until he said that, I would have sworn to all of you on a stack of Bibles and a Paula Deen cookbook (my highest oath) that the “Treasure Box Funeral” was my grandfather’s in Dadeville, but as soon as Dad said “Aunt Eunice,” the truth was unveiled in my mind.

Dad also informed me Ansley didn’t say “Treasure Box” but the more common “Treasure Chest” instead.

I’m not willing to bend on that phrase, however – “Treasure Box” is funnier, and since I’m the one whose been telling this story for years, I’m taking creative license and sticking to it.

As the family’s storyteller, I dare say I’m allowed.

Cliff McCollum is managing editor of Gulf Coast Media. He can be reached at cliff@gulfcoastmedia.com.