The story repeated often can become more familiar than the original experience.

Each retelling smooths the thing slightly and then fixes it in place. After enough repetitions what you have access to is the account rather than the afternoon, and the polished version stands quietly in front of the messier original. This happens to happy memories as much as to difficult ones, which is why a well-told family story can feel oddly thin to the person it happened to.

Try recalling a detail from one of your set-piece stories that has never made it into the telling. Ask somebody else who was there what they remember. The differences are where the real afternoon still lives.