Dear Childhood Memories

Nostalgia is a nice and upsetting thing at the same time. Many of us are still children in heart though we try to be fully independent, grown-up and responsible. But we all miss that carefree period of our life called childhood - the time when we had few worries or at least when those worries were not so big, as we look back at them now. Some people are probably still proud of something they did when they were kids, others would like to turn back time and fix something, and someone maybe still keeping in mind a lovely memory that every time puts a smile on his/her face. We remember people we enjoyed meeting or people who used to scare us. We remember ourselves laughing and crying.

I decided to dig up those of mine, my childhood memories. Just a couple of them, those that for some reason stuck up in my head and are not willing to leave it : )

I’ll start with a story that helped me believe that dreams do come true sometimes. And that is where I should say a big ‘thank you’ to my dear mom. I remember that sunny day when I was a little girl and we were going back home with mom. In one of the shop-windows I saw that awesome doll, a big toy girl was gracefully sitting there in her luxurious creamy dress, wearing a huge lacy hat. She had long thick hair and deep hazel eyes. The skin looked so naturally pale with a soft pink color that she looked brilliantly alive. No need to say I adored her. I knew, though, that she must be really costly for us to buy and didn’t say even a word to mom about it. Imagine the scale of my astonishment when in 2 weeks I receive that dream-doll for my birthday. I was almost crying with happiness. And I remember my mom handing it to me with the words: “You see, darling, dreams come true sometimes…” And she warmly kissed me on the cheek. When I grew up I passed the doll to my little sister, though by that time children got a little bit more ‘spoilt’, I should say… Modern Barbies, Cindies, etc. Anyway, it’s all about the right moment and the way of presentation. I still believe in dreams coming true now…

Here goes a funny story that makes me laugh now and that used to make me cry back then. A little girl decided to have fun in the yard. It was winter and we had that huge tree in the backyard. It was one of those winters when the amount of snow was so big that there were snowdrifts all way round. The kids used to spend all days long paying in the snow, making snow castles, ‘diving’ into those heaps of snow. I decided to be the smartest – to climb up the tree and dive into the snow from there. That’s what I intended to do at least. I climbed up – aaand dropped myself down from the branch. Oops… something wrong… the snow ground was not approaching! I looked up and saw that I was caught by my own skirt and was levitating there! I started panicking, shouting and crying. But the boys just stood there and laughed loudly. Oh, how hurt and disappointed I felt, can’t express in words! Yes, I calmed down soon and got myself liberated from the evil tree, but that was a stress anyway, back then. Now those boys grew up too and we are laughing together, remembering that funny episode.

Even today we are aware than gambling is something that can take you all up and end up in unpredictable consequences. This is the story about how I felt it for the first time on my own skin in early childhood. My family was spending holiday at the Black sea. As you know in every more or less ‘resort-like’ town at the seaside there is that ‘entertainment walk alley’ with restaurants, cafes, rides and those arcade machines working at the scheme ‘put-in-a-coin-and-try-to-win-two’. That’s what drew my sister’s and my attention. I still remember that the machine was called “Little Mermaid” and was so bright and luring. We asked dad to give us some change, as we wanted to give it a try so bad. Unfortunately, dad didn’t have spare money so he gave us a big note and told us to change it, take some money for ourselves and bring the rest back to him. Mom and he were sitting in an open-air restaurant enjoying dinner. So we rushed to the magic machine anticipating the adventure. We put in a coin, then the second one, won something, then lost something, then again and again. We were so absorbed in the whole procedure that didn’t even notice that we soon had to go change some more money, and more, and more. And then, suddenly, when we were going to put in another coin, we realized that we had no money left, we searched the pockets – nothing! It brought us back to the ground and there was a biiiig shock. Can you imagine our dad’s reaction when we got back and said there was nothing left? See, gambling is dangerous =)

Of course I can’t leave these things unmentioned – meeting people who forever stayed in my memory. The most pleasant occurrences. Their unexpected character made them even more memorable. I brightly remember two of such ‘encounters’. The first one when we were playing a popular game at that time called “Robbers”, kids running everywhere outdoors, hiding from each other, making strategies of conquering.) So at the peak of the game me and some fellow boy from my team got hid in bushes together and waited there. Suddenly the boy blushed, turned to me, kissed on the cheek and said I was the most beautiful girl in the yard. I was so flattered, my knees started even trembling! Felt like the first love. Such a sweet memory. Later, when I grew up and was already a young lady, I met a guy in the street who gave me a rose saying “just to make you smile a bit”. I didn’t even have time to thank him, so fast he disappeared. That encounter so made my day then =)

Childhood dreams - Nelly Furtado

Babies Dancing Lebanese Dabka Dabbka Farid

Dear squidooers, I believe on reading this lens each one of you remember something from his/her childhood and is smiling now. Let's not forget the best we had, shall we? =)