My diary, essentially, where I share my day to day life when I feel the need to express myself

Tag: family

A Night of Nostalgia

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!

Family first

Another great morning to start the day, still not used to this new bed but I didn’t feel my back aching so much, which is good! Started the day at 5:30 AM, I felt like I didn’t have enough sleep but I didn’t feel too tired either. Still got my usual coffee and toast, watching TV for a bit. Nothing worth watching so early but I sort of phased it out of my thoughts, thinking about today and if I’d go to town with my new outfit, or if I’ll stick with my old dresses to sell some lettuces from our farm. Wasn’t too sure what to go for, but it didn’t matter. I got a call from mom, saying she’d be needing me to work at the farm today and that it was going to be a long day of ploughing the fields.

I was sad to have to help today. I expected to go see the humans today, but I guess my plans didn’t matter. I can’t let mom and dad down after all.

I dressed up with one of my dresses, an old one I’ve worn since I was 16, and it seems to have gained some colors and has ripped in places, but it’s perfect to work in the field. I put on some old shoes I have and went on my way to my family’s home. The sky didn’t look so good, with all the clouds but they didn’t announce any rain for today.

The trip to my parents was about 30 minutes around the outside of the forest. I took my time to enjoy the fresh air, I even hummed an old song we used to sing when I was little, about how Giants find safety among the trees and it reflects how we’ve been hiding from humans in the past, though we still sing it to the children! It’s called “The Trees Who Talk”, and it goes like this:

“The trees who talk
Can also see
The trees who talk
Who could they be

They laugh and walk
Along with me
The trees who talk
No one can see”

There’s more to it but I can’t think of the full song right now. It’s quite dear to my heart, I wish I could share how the melody sounds.

Anyway, I made it back and my neighbour’s kids jumped at me right away, the little pests kept running in our house and wake me up from my nap to go play with them, even though I just don’t have the same energy as them! They’re 10 and 8, a boy and a girl respectively. The boy is going to grow tall, I can tell, he’s already about as tall as I was when I was his age, and I used to be the tall girl, and still am!

Mom was in the kitchen getting our lunch ready as I was slowly making my way there through everyone’s warm reception. We’re very united and warm to each other among Giants, it’s a very strong bond we share. We sort of had to, really. Mom gives me a hug as I walk in, she barely stands tall enough to reach my chest, I still don’t know where I got my height from…

Dad was with our other two neighbours, shouting about stuff I didn’t care, he waved at me and I waved back. My father doesn’t really like me hanging out with humans, he thinks they still don’t really like us. Not to mention that there’s a very big sense of both fear and superiority among us towards humans, most see them as these small aggressive and arrogant lookalikes who cause nothing but problems. I don’t see humans like that, instead, I have a huge fascination for them and I tend to be picked on because of it.

My dad keeps saying that I go to “pick up horseradish” or “settle with the imps” as a means to pick on me for having human friends. I don’t like when he does that…

After helping mom getting all of our stuff ready for the day, we headed to the farms through the forest. We all know our way around quite well at this point, to it was a straight shot to our destination. Our Giant farm is located in a huge clearing in a place very hard for humans to reach, thankfully we can just leg it up and get there. My two older brothers were there, Magnus who’s 31 years old, and Celso who’s 29 years old. I’m 24 and stand taller than them, which makes them pick on me for my size. I think Magnus might have a complex about it… Either way, they were both hard at work already, moving bags and crates around, Celso was already working on the other side of the field ploughing away. I walked up to him after grabbing the plough and asked him how things were going, as to which he replies that his legs were worse but it wouldn’t stop him from helping.

I’m concerned about him, Giants have a lot of health problems due to their sizes, my dad has irregular heart problems, my mom can’t stand for too long, Celso with his leg problems… Thankfully, Magnus and I are fine, but it’s still painful to know so many of us just don’t hold well. I told him to go rest a little but he refuses and tells me to shut up and plough. He hasn’t changed, the same old big brother I know!

We worked a lot, it took the entire morning and I couldn’t feel my arms or legs from the effort. I was sweating profusely and so was Celso. We took a break for lunch, my stomach could be heard from town, as Magnus put it. We cleared a lot this morning and I was quite proud. Happier I was to have my mom’s wonderful vegetable soup she usually makes. So we sat down and talked about how I was dealing with the new house and I said it was alright, I loved the new place, but I still miss them. Apparently, Magnus has finally worked out the courage to talk to that girl he kept grooming in his mind, he wouldn’t shut up about it, asking me advice and all that. I swear I’m happy that he finally just talked to her! I was happy when he told us the news during lunch, he seemed definitely happier today!

After lunch, we went to our farmhouse to rest, we have rooms in there to sleep, as Giants need to sleep much more than humans, we can’t skip this, I was knackered… I believe we woke up at 4 PM but I can’t be certain. Still had a lot of work to finish up and we worked at it. All necessary land was ploughed in the end, while Magnus and mom finished seeding it. This took us the entire afternoon and we walked back to have dinner.

It was a very tiresome day, but I’m used to it. I couldn’t think of anything else but to shower… We had a bit more soup and got treated with some boar on the side, we don’t usually eat meat as it messes with my mom’s stomach but it was a nice treat for us! I thanked them for the time, and went back home alone. I was happy to spend time with my family but I’m still sad I couldn’t see anyone in town today. I hope I’m free tomorrow for a visit.

Now, I’m home, just took a shower and I’m ready to go to bed. I’m going to read a bit in bed after I finish this entry, and since tomorrow is Sunday, I might sleep in, Sundays are usually free for us from farm work! I might go pack a few lettuces and potatoes to sell, we’ll see.

As for now, I’ll be back with more tomorrow!

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