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

[quirkywords]

Happy helper

congratulations and all the best for the future.

[missep123]

That is so beautiful Croix! And you are so right, rings can be very special instant reminders of the history you have had and the person who has given it to you.

I really loved reading that!

[Croix]

Dear missep123 and all~

I guess Mrs C and I would be regarded by most as being too sentimental. We even have the bouquet from our wedding 25 years ago hanging up. It turned itself into a cross between a dried flour arrangement and something you might find in a tomb with an Egyptian mummy.

Definitely not for the house-proud, however neither of us want to take it down, it is too real a reminder of a most wonderful day.

Croix

[Ggrand]

Hello Everyone,

Dear Croix, thank you so much you have reminded me of when my younger brother and I climbed onto a shed inside the back neighbour’s place that adjoined our fence and yard...

We were lack key children from the age of 7...and with school holidays, alone at home, we got bored...Then one sunny day we decided go and climbed our fence... a few strategically placed chairs and boxes...a few tumbles later we made it..

Then up onto the neighbour shed roof....why? Because their was this big mulberry tree...and we loved eating the ones that fell on our side of the fence.....but it wasn’t enough this particular day....so we decided the tree looked to good to ignore....my brother was up first, then helped me up...we just sat on the shed for a long time eating all the mulberries we could reach...

I think if I remember we made ourselves sick on them...after we had our fill we climbed back down..thinking we got away with it...but no, our faces, hands and clothes and bottom of our shoes were all stained with mulberry juice...and left some lovely shoe prints on the mats inside our home...

After that...let’s just say, we were grateful for the mulberries that fell on our side....and that was the only time we had them from that time on...

I still love eating those tiny little berries of enjoyment...

I now have a teeny tiny mulberry tree, I’m going to try and grow...fingers crossed....it does..

Grandy..

[mmMekitty]

Hi Grandy,

I used to love mulberries, too

There was a large tree down the back, down a hill, on our property. I think all us kids, some neighbouring kids, too, would climb that tree, whenever the mulberries were ripe. I wasn't allowed to go as high as I would have liked.

Anyway, it's funny how we didn't notice how much juice stained our faces, too, when we ate while picking. We were supposed to bring back heaps to freeze... but we probably ate half of what we picked, somehow thinking no adults would notice.

If I had a big bit of land, one thing for sure, I would try to get a mulberry tree.

Funny, too, I don't recall getting in trouble for eating so many mulberries. I wonder if there being so many kids involved, from different households, that they decided we were too many to chase! A dozen kids, give or take five.

mmMekitty

[missep123]

I love reminiscing about happy memories - it fills my body with feelings of warmth!

[Croix]

Dear All~

Talk of climbing a fence as a kid took my mind far away from the juicy joys of mulberries. It sent my mind back to being a teen and moving with my parent into another house. The garden had a back fence and I could only see trees and bushes - like a park.

I climbed it and it literally led me to a new part of life. There was a house tucked away inside, and a shed, plus paddocks with a couple of racehorses.

The owner was a veteran, and spent much of every day just sitting in the open part of the shed looking at the horses and sipping beer. He was not a great talker. I would often join him, sipping beer too (which I disliked but wanted ot be companionable) and we smoked of course.

In time he taught me about restoring straps and tack from cracked and scaly uselessness to supple objects ready to use, about feed and to compensate for racehorses' nervy skittishness and eventually allowed me to exercise them on the streets -using a snaffle bit would you believe!).

I don't know why he included me, his shed was a huge part of his life and joining him must have seemed natural to both of us. I certainly enjoyed all of it, I like to thing he did too.

Many years later I realized the significance of his war service and silences.

Croix

[mmMekitty]

Hey Croix, maybe because you sat with him, didn't rush or pester him, giving him the time he needed to feel comfortable, & accepting him as & where he was, that made all the difference...I think your company must have meant a great deal to him.

mmMekitty

[Croix]

Dear MK

Yes, he had a fair parcel of land and it was covered in trees and bushes so the outside world was just distant sounds. I guess he had built himself an oasis of peace, and it seemed only natural for me to try for companionable silence with just a few remarks now and again.

Actually I can look back on it as a balm - a peaceful time for me too.

-C

[missep123]

That is a beautiful memory Croix, I think that you must have changed this person's life by providing them with someone they could speak to, trust and be comfortable with. Often we don't realise it but our interactions with people can be truly memorable for them (and for us!)