It’s been a few days since I posted on the blog. Nothing too eventful happened and I haven’t found the courage to talk about other topics from my past. However, yesterday was different, I was almost forced back to the past.

The day started cold and cloudy yesterday, I didn’t get much sleep either. My back seems to be worse, but the pain goes away after a while. I went to town to sell some potatoes, went back to my parents’ home to have dinner with them. My dad asked me to go get some sunflower seeds for him, the ones we had were all eaten by rodents and my dad was furious. This all happened that morning, it wasn’t the best start for the day, but it got better. The humans in town were very kind and warm to me, made me feel better in no time.

So, I head back to my parents’ house, again greeted with a warm welcome, and the clouds above were dark, really menacing. As I go inside, it starts to rain, and I hoped it would stop after dinner so I could go back to my own house.

We had dinner together, talked a lot over some veggies and bread my mom prepared for us. I had a lot of fun, as my dad was telling his stories about those rainy day deliveries he did when he was a kid, in some really odd places too! He tells those every so often, I know them well, but watching his face full of enthusiasm telling us such tales of his childhood just gives my nostalgia and tickles my heart.

After we finished dinner, it was pouring very strongly, and I swear I heard a clap of thunder as soon as I finished eating. The weather was very mad. As it wasn’t safe for me to go back, not only because I’d catch a cold from all that rain but also because it’s not a good idea for a Giant to walk under a thunderstorm, I was invited to sleep at my parents’. After all, I still have my own room almost untouched.

I helped my mom clean the table and the dishes and my back pain was starting to get worse again, so once done, I headed straight to my room and got a nightgown to wear, and dived onto my bed. It was as I remember… the comfiest bed I’ve ever slept on.

It wasn’t long before the water leaks started from the roof. See, this house is old and it’s been taking all the weather wear since the last big renovation 40 years ago. My dad went to the kitchen with a chair and, with the help of Marcus, one of my older brothers, he spent a good few hours trying to clog the leak to go to bed. He was so tired, he didn’t have much patience to deal with all that now.

I couldn’t help much, so I stayed in my room, looking around at my room, remembering all the good times I had as a child growing up. I’m not that old, I’m only 24, but I already reminisce about the times I was but an innocent child, not worrying about having food on the table or if my bills were all paid up. I was just me, happy little me.

By either some mother-daughter connection or pure coincidence, my mom walks into my room with a little box in her hands. I recognized it right away, it’s where she keeps a vast collection of memories from her children, a box full of photos she took of all of us. She sits down by my side and asks me how I’m feeling. I just told her I missed being young when my back didn’t feel so bad and I could just hop around without a care. She laughs and tells me she wanted to looks through some photos with me.

There were a lot, as I said, photos of them, photos of my brothers and myself, and altogether in some of them. I forgot I even had that lime green tunic I loved to wear it! I even kept a photo to share here.

Me, when I was 6 years old

There were even photos of me with the neighbor’s kids which I forgot looked like that until I saw them young again. It’s crazy how we forget little details like that and get used to seeing people all grown-ups. I was able to recognize them by their similarities to their present selves but I can barely remember them like that. I can’t even remember that I had those shoes even, or that ball we made out of springy branches and mud.

I looked more through those and I saw myself with a rock, it was all smooth and it clicked me, I remember having it around as a pet! I called it Dizzy because my silly young self would claim that it made her dizzy to look at it, rolling downhills. It’s just funny to think about now but it carries a lot of impact on how much I’ve grown and how different I see the world now. Not much different from anybody, really, but it’s the little things that make us smile! I hold on to that though very dearly.

Once done with the roof, dad came to my room to tell my mom it was a temporary fix, but it’d have to do for the time being. She kissed me goodnight and went off with the box, left me that picture to take with me. My dad just smiles and gives me a kiss on the forehead like he usually does since I can remember. I couldn’t wash off the smile on my face while the thunder was raging outside, contrasting the entire mood of the house I was in.

The night went and I woke up this morning without a single hint of pain on my back. The sky was clear and the ground and trees all wet, puddles of mud everywhere as I made my way back after breakfast. Now I’m writing this entry, it’s the morning and I’ll be spending the day home today. I’ll write another post if anything interesting happens today but I doubt it’ll top this!

I’ll be back next time!