As you are reading this I will be all arrived in Florida and beginning my holiday in the sunshine (actually the forecast currently says big storms, but whatever…) but I was determined not to leave my blog lying dormant so I’ve asked some lovely bloggy ladies to guest post whilst I’m away. I actually love guest posts as it feels fun to open up my blog to other people and invite in some of the people who inspire me in blogging and whose own blogs are always top of my reading list. First in the queue is the ridiculously awesome Emma from Park Bench Poet. I’m scheduling this in on a Wednesday night (5th) having just picked up the most amazing package from Emma; she really is a true diamond and I’m really pleased she’s getting back into blogging again. Over to Emma…
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Hello all, it’s Emma from Park Bench Poet guest posting for Rosie whilst she’s away in Florida 🙂 I was uhmm-ing and ahh-ing thinking about what to write for A Rosie Outlook while she was off having fun and making a ton of memories at the End of The Road Festival, when I thought- why not write about memories?
My earliest memory is moving house when I was about 3 years old. I don’t actually remember the moving part, but I remember my mum taking me back to the old house to pick up some post from the new owners. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed past the lady at the door, and I kept trying to let go of my mum’s hand and clamber over the doorstep. I think my mum had to drag me away crying!
A lot of my earliest memories are also my happiest memories. I look back on my childhood and it’s the small but silly things I did that spring to mind and make me smile. When I was little, my favourite song was Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus, and I’d make my Dad play it over and over again while I bopped round the living room with my sister. We had a big brown cabinet in the corner which housed the stereo, and one of us would always be the ‘DJ’, spending entire Sundays dancing to my Dad’s old records while he filmed us with the Camcorder. Did anyone else’s parents insist on getting the Camcorder out at every given opportunity, or was that just mine? I’m so thankful that they did, as the videos are so entertaining to watch back now as an adult! Even as teenagers, my sister and I would get the videos out to watch over and over, to speed up a boring Sunday afternoon.
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So many of my memories are connected with smells and sounds. Talcum powder reminds me of cuddling up to my mum’s big dressing gown with elephants on. The smell of bleach reminds me of cleaning up sick at a house party I had while my parents were away, but the less said about that the better. A certain deodorant reminds me of being sixteen, getting ready for nights down the pub when I’d told my parents I was just going to my friend’s for a sleepover. If I smell that deodorant even now, it takes me straight back to the excitement I used to feel. It’s strange how you can forget about something for so long and then a reminder of it can hit you in your gut and make you long to go back and experience it all over again.
It’s been six years since I left school, almost five years since my partner and I got together, four years since I moved out of my parents house, three years since I got my first furry baby (my cat Tuppence!) … The point I am trying to make is that time moves so quickly, which I why I think it’s so important to have as much fun as you can, while you still can!
Sorry to be totally morbid, but one day I know I’m going to be sitting in a shiny high backed chair in some old nursing home, smelling of wee and dribbling into my mashed up bananas. The only thing that’s going to keep me going through these dribbly/wee years is going to be reminiscing about the good times, and all the things I thought I would regret but threw caution to the wind and did anyway. Trust me. Just the words ‘mango’, ‘mosquito’ and ‘Pikachu’ can set my sister and I off into uncontrollable laughter that doesn’t stop for about an hour and a half.
What are your earliest memories? What sounds and smells remind you of the best times?
