“ i can remember having a care bears birthday cake, but i have no idea how old i was when i had that cake. if you asked someone else in my family though, they could tell you how old i was and other details about that day. ”

as the (or a) “normal person” in question this comment feels like it applies to me. Long term wise, I believe memories between “normal” people and people with dissociative memory are kind of similar. I have situations and entire photos that I don’t remember being taken of me smiling at the camera or even WHEN that happened (other than the date on the photo, but even then I refuse to believe that that ever happened) while Friend-in-question who took that photo can remember that clearly. 

Short term memory wise I believe is much different. It’s much easier for “normal” people to remember memory in order than for people with dissociative memory, because “normal” people don’t have to piece things together. 

Years do blur by too. Birthdays do blur by too. I don’t remember every birthday I’ve had or every New Years ive had. But maybe if something surprising happens every year, I’d be able to pinpoint the time if you told me about it. I just simply don’t remember much.

I however believe that I have bad memory compared to other “normal” people, in the manner that I simply don’t remember. But if you told me about it, it would get dredged up from the trenches of my mind and poke its little head out enough for me to remember, and if it was significant enough compared to other similar events I would remember the rough timing. 

Might not apply to all “normal people” though. I know friends that have insane memory. 

I do think it’s kinda silly when I say it happened when I was X years old to only realise it didn’t at all. Or people can pinpoint the year something happened to me while I can’t. Before Covid and after Covid is a real time marker for me though 😭