365 days project 2. Day 73. Childhood memories

   Proust had a madeleine. I have a blue flower! :)  
   Today I walked to the bus station and I passed by some blue, summery flowers. And then I stopped. I turned around and I smiled. One second later the movie of my childhood was playing in my mind: the summer days in the countryside when grandma was baking delicious desserts for me and my brother, my grandpa was teaching us to play chess and later on we were all eating fresh and healthy food from the back garden. Those days will always be sunny in my mind... sunny and carefree. 

   It's so interesting how a madeleine in Proust's case or a blue flower in my case can bring back so many memories, isn't it? Mysterious are the ways of our wonderful brain! How amazing is that? Good, happy memories are always with us, hidden in forgotten drawers and ready to get out when we expect them the least. And isn't that exactly what can make our day? :)

Day 185. Lost and found

   Remember when weeks ago I said I wanted my child memories back? That I wanted to find something to remind of of how I was as a child? I did!!! 

   My uncle gave me this cassette I totally forgot about. I was recorded at the age of 4, 5 and 9 while reciting poems:) I had such a cute voice my heart melted:) My brother was barely learning to talk, my dad was trying to make him say "mom", "dad", "oops" and cute stuff like that:) My dear, dear grandma was around too. I almost burst into tears. It brought back the good, old times when everything was ok, when we were all together, when life was barely beginning. Now, we've grown up, life is uncertain and many of the good people have gone. 

   Sometimes I miss being a child, you know? I always find myself loving the craft work my kids do at the kindergarten and I just want to sit down with them and do whatever they're doing, play with them and listen to awesome lessons, live life all over again from the beginning. It's not that adult life is frightening, it's just that we forget how awesome that time was because "when we're little we want to grow up and when we've grown up we want to be little". 

   Still, being able to live again a small part of my childhood was awesome:) And the good part is that... memories are always alive! And they should be preserved. Today I learned that videos are better than photos. Unless we're in Harry Potter and we have moving photos:) 

Note to self: Make a very organized plan about preserving your kids' childhood:) 

Day 137. Now and then

   When I left the block where I live my whole body told me it was going to be a good day. I looked at the sky, inhaled the fresh morning air and I knew. I just knew that something good was going to happen. I believe in premonitions you know. They might not be very scientific and I don't often feel them, but when they happen, they are real. I lost my camera after I had a premonition and today was going to be just like I expected it to be.

   I started the workday visiting some kids. Their teacher was just organizing their portfolios containing collages, drawings and paintings. She told me the parents will receive them at the end of the school year. That made me think of how amazing it must feel when the kid grows up and you show him/her this portfolio that you hid well in a box under the bed. How funny will it be to remember childhood through some scribbles, how cute will it be when the parent will start telling stories about how he/she was at the age of 3. Then I suddenly asked myself: "Where are MY works? Where are MY scribbles? I don't remember much of anything from what I liked back then or how I used to draw or paint when I was in kindergarten. I only remember that pink and green go well together and I still use that thought":) So that's how I decided. I will definitely keep all my child's works from kindergarten. I will buy a biiiig box with flowers on top and I will pile them in there and when the kid is a teen who thinks his parents don't understand him, I'll open that box and start telling him the story of how much a mother loves her child. That was my first moment of happiness for today.

   The day went by and as the hours passed I went to meet my best friend in the mall. Surpriiiiise! She brought her grandma with her:) I love her granny! She's very talkative and funny and she likes being surrounded by people. So we sat down in a cafe and started chatting about life, work, people and how the beginnings are always tough, how a woman should be independent before marrying and how friends should stick together no matter what. She's a fountain of wisdom and I always love listening to her stories and life experiences. We then went shopping together (yes, I lost the last Temptation game) and found some AMAZING things that made my day, some little pieces of me waiting to be found and picked up:) Granny was awesome at giving advices. She was young right there, with us, having fun watching us try on clothes and commenting on how teenagerish or womanly those made me look like:) She's awesome and I love spending time with her! I felt tonight was another one of those "movie moments" I feel from time to time. 

   So this is how some people or things can change a regular day into something worth remembering:) In the end, I was right. It was a terrific day:)