Store Your Happy Memories Here:

[Croix]

Dear All~

What this place is for:
This thread is a tool, a resource, and also I guess a dash of entertainment.

I’ve found that when life is grim that sometimes thoughts of past happiness can create a chink of light in the grey overwhelming press of down. They can help occupy the mind with lighter reflections.

With that in view I invite people to set down a brief passage describing some happy event they look back to with fondness and peace.

They - and others too - can then return to it when they feel the need to glean a little warmth.

It is not a place for gloomy or dire tales, those can go elsewhere.

What to do:
Just set out, as simply as you like, your recollection of some past experience that means something good to you, something you enjoyed, something from safe times.

It can be, like my story below, anything – from an account of visiting grandparents to simply cooking and eating a melted-cheese sandwich in a favorite kitchen – you get to choose.

How to do it:
Write. Write enough so someone else can feel the mood, know what happened, find the goodness. (stop at 2,500 characters please!)

Grammar, syntax, spelling, punctuation are not compulsory, just write as you can – the only important thing is the content - not literary merit. Short or long - it does not matter.


I hope you enjoy, contribute and find a little distraction here when you need it.

Croix

[Croix]

Dear Moon~

We are not all the same and this thread leaves some cold, and others like it. There's no right or wrong. Part of life's rich tapestry I guess.

I can only speak for me. I guess sometimes I find I have something good in my life and I'm reluctant to mention it here in case those without feel their loss and are hurt as a result. Then I realize seeing someone else's good fortune can give hope and the knowledge there is better in the world.

Perhaps if you were to share something it might fire someone else's imagination and give them a lift. I find that if that happens and I get to hear about it then I feel better in turn.

Please do what you are comfortable with, it will be fine whatever you decide

Croix

[Doolhof]

Hi All,

Today in the Op Shop where I volunteer, myself and another volunteer were having such a wonderful laugh, the other lady had to go out the back and stop laughing because she said her sides hurt!

I don't even recall what we were laughing about, but it was fun at the time. A few of the customers were smiling at us because we were laughing so much.

Sometimes I laugh at stuff on the T.V. and wake my husband up who is sleeping on the couch. His reactions are occasionally funny. One time he asked "Are you having trouble with the purple spaghetti?" some times he sits bolt upright and looks around like a meerkat! That makes me laugh even more.

I then tell him everything is okay and he can go back to sleep.

Cheers from Dools

[Croix]

Dear Mrs D~

It's funny you remember the laugh, but not the subject, I guess it shows what's important.

The image of your husband the meerkat is hilarious~

Croix

[Quercus]

Hi Croix (and everyone who is reading along),

Feels like it has been a little while but today's memory is just happy... No prompting required.

Forget Spring. Summer is coming. The concrete was burning hot. Thongs and shorts and singlet weather. We gather in the shade of the carport. Two kids. One German Shepherd. And me.

Leash tied to a pole. Hose and bubbles and bribery snacks (for the kids not the dog)... although they are happy to share.

"Soggy doggy" laughs one. "Ewwwwww" shouts the other as she is sprayed with water and soap suds as the dog shakes.

I wash the dog as they splash about and giggle and run around. Dog sits quietly and leans his head aside for a scratch behind the ear. Hard to believe this is the same puppy who once sat in my lap coming home. One ear still floppy and giant paws.

Suddenly it is quiet. Ah dear. Quiet is a worry. I stop washing and go investigate....

I have to laugh. There is a trail of water and footprints on the concrete. Leading to the car. Door ajar. Nope. No kids there. Just water pooling on the floor and seat. Ah well at least it's not sunscreen like yesterday.

I follow the trail of destruction. All the shoes in the shelf filled with water. Sigh. The chairs all soaked. Ah well it's just water. Aha! Two guilty faces. One holding a frog watering can. The other a cow one. Filling them in the dog bucket.

"We were getting water to help wash doggy". Sure you were!

Two little ferals. And a bucket. And two watering cans. And a hose.

And a soaked German Shepherd looking at me as if to say ...

"I'm going to dig up your garden for this woman!".

[Croix]

Dear Nat~

You may not have felt quite that way at the time but that is so lovely. I hope your garden survived the digging

Croix

[Guest_1055]

Ah Nat, yeah it is lovely. I really enjoyed reading your very recent memory there. I believe you should copy and save that one elsewhere in written form to read to your children when they are much older. Construct and author your own book with precious moments with your little ones.

[Quercus]

Hi Croix and Shelley 😊

I agree it was more funny than irritating. Just water after all.

No digging after all that... we had a thunderstorm and k9 decided to sneak into the laundry and lay on the floor. Kids thought that was hilarious as he doesn't come into the house.

Shelley I've been thinking of that. I don't know anything like that about my parents or childhood. Was thinking it might be nice to keep some stories for them.

❤ Nat

[Guest_3712]

Just a few days ago it was a beautiful day and we headed down to the beach. I have always loved the beach, don't always swim as I'm scared of the waves after being badly dumped once, but the freshness and awesomeness always invigorate me.

Anyway it was relatively calm so I was fine. Hubby and I had our grandson in between us and each time the waves came we hoisted him up high to jump over them. He shrieked with delight every time. His smile was so huge I thought his mouth might split.

Hubby was like a kid splashing away, funny faces and noises to match- priceless. Suddenly this feeling came over me, like Deja vu , been here before kind of feeling. I remembered doing this as a kid. All five of us kids, laughing, jumping, trying to be the one dad lifted up over the waves.

Even now writing this I have mixed emotions- As I create happy memories for my grandson, it seems to be releasing some of my own- memories long time buried under years of pain.

So kind of relief that I did have some happy times, but sad that they are so few and when I really needed them to help me understand my life I couldn't recollect any.

Curious

Anyway our beach day ending in sand castle making, huge multi level castles from hubby, a pitiful mound of sand with shells on top from me , and grandson playing no favourites and jumping all over them both- precious.

Stressless

[Doolhof]

Hi All,

Lovely stories and memories here. The beach is one of my happy places too. It was only a couple of years ago, I went to the beach by myself and made a sand castle by dripping runny wet sand into a creative castle.

A few adults walked past, some looked at me like I was crazy, one guy said he wished he had the guts to sit on the beach and make sand castles, I asked if he would like to join me but he declined, others laughed, some dogs had a sniff and said goodaye in their doggy fashion.

Either way I enjoyed my sand castle making moment in the sun.

Cheers all from Dools

[Croix]

Dear Stressless~

First off thank you for putting that memory of a perfect time with your hubby and grandson on the sandy beach. I guess there are a lot of us lucky enough to be able to think back to similar times.

You also said

So kind of relief that I did have some happy times, but sad that they are so few and when I really needed them to help me understand my life I couldn't recollect any.

Well, I agree, and so do others, that when down the happy memories simply are absent. Something in the mind blocks them. I've found they do exist still exist though, which is why we have this thread, as a sort of 'memory piggy bank', so they are available when needed.

A good thing is other's memories help and also act as prompts for ours.

Croix