Around the dinner table this evening, we were reminiscing about special memories with our grandparents. For me it was climbing up on Grandpa's lap for a cuddle and a giggle over one of his monkey faces. Or digging around in Grandma's garden and being taught how to make a dried flower arrangement for a local competition. Drinking icy tang out of her fluted orange glasses, or sitting around her for an animated reading of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe at bedtime.
Interesting how many of our most vivid memories are of subtle everyday moments. It reminds me not to outdo myself trying to create grand productions for my children, but to be present with them in the simple daily moments of life: peering down the throats of snapdragons in the front yard, wrapping them up in a fluffy towel after bath and pausing for a snuggle, reading Caps for Sale...again, and bravely handing them chocolate chip beaters to lick.
What are your most vivid childhood memories characterized by?
3 comments:
One of my most vivid childhood memories is characterized by cannibals. For quite some time, I played cannibals with my brother Michael and sister Sandra as soon as we got home from church every Sunday.
We would drape old sheets over a table in the backyard for the cannibals' cave. Then Michael and I would turn into cannibals and Sandra would be our victim. Sandra would run and Michael and I would chase and catch her.
We would return to the cannibals' cave with Sandra, emitting cannibal-like whoops. We would then put Sandra into an imaginary pot, place our hands on her head and shoulders, and "stir" her. (Sandra actually seemed to enjoy this repetitive circular motion!)
When Sandra was almost but not completely cooked, Michael and I would turn into the rescue team, overpower the cannibals, and save Sandra just in time. We played this same game Sunday after Sunday after Sunday!
How truly original! I wonder if the reference to symbolic partaking of flesh and blood triggered your imaginations.
Wow, Julia, I'd never thought of that! Maybe the symbolic partaking of bread and wine DID trigger our imaginations!
Post a Comment