My childhood friend likes to say that he can’t do many of the things that he once did when he was younger: hit a 90 mph baseball, slalom on the Black runs at Alta, or wakeboard board easily at Lake Powell.

Funny thing is, I don’t remember him doing any of those things when he was younger. And it’s not just my memory, either.

No doubt we don’t remember things precisely from our younger years. All memories are distorted, experts say. But were we ever as talented, as skilled or as prolific as we remember?

Maybe. Or maybe we just want to cover up our flaws.

Not the Japanese. On a recent trip to Japan, I saw many examples of the Japanese aesthetic of “wabi-sabi,” which is finding beauty in imperfections.

Japanese “kintsugi” goes even further by intentionally highlighting a crack in a vase

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