CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

We always have a share of childhood memories, which we find funny when we recall them but back at those times, we thought they were something to be taken seriously. Last night, memories of my childhood bumped into my head suddenly and I could not help but silently laugh at them. Well, I could not laugh aloud last night, my cousins would think I’d gone crazy. Anyway, I’ll just tell you the highlights.

1. First Day of School. I recall mom and dad happily telling me I was finally going to school the coming June- in Kindergarten. They were eating then and I was literally looking up to them and thinking, ‘What’s so nice about going to school? I do not want to study yet. I’m happy in our home just watching cartoons.’ However, I didn’t say it to them that time because I was a nice and compliant kid so what I did was to force a smile.

2. The Yellow Bell. In my first home in Bauan, Batangas, where I stayed for almost 9 yrs, we used to have gardens planted with orchids and other ornamental plants. I have an older brother named Paul who used to see lady bugs in yellow bell flower (if you don’t know how yellow bell flower looks like, search it first before you continue reading this) and he did always call me just to see it. I do not know how he found out that that flowering plant is called yellow bell but when my dad heard me saying ‘yellow bell’ while pointing at 3-4 ft plant with yellow flowers, he was amazed and asked [while smiling], ‘How did you know that that plant is called yellow bell?’ I didn’t say a word but I was asking myself then, ‘Why do old people think that kids do not know anything? Hey, we aren’t stupid.’

3. I See Sky as Sea. Yeah, that’s it. I used to think that blue sky is a sea that floats and is the basis for convincing myself that explains why it rains. The water from the sea sky drops down to the earth. At least I that’s what I believed when I was not yet studying.

4. Mama Mary. My parents were just renting an apartment in Bauan. When I was little, the window of Nanay Haning’s (the owner of the ‘row apartments’) house was always opened in the afternoon; I think that’s the master bedroom. I could see big pictures of Jesus and Mother Mary hung on the wall. At that age, I already know of Jesus but I’m not familiar with the lady beside her (that’s Mama Mary BTW). I thought that Mama Mary was a Goddess of Rain and when it rains I always blamed it on her. One time, my mother was listening to me talking to my younger brother telling him that She was the Goddess of Rain and I hated her. She got annoyed when she heard of that and told me that lady is the mother of Jesus. I said, ‘Oh, okay… Sorry.’