Memories ~ Warm recollections !

Memories are a way of holding onto
 the things you love,
 the things you are,
 the things you never want to lose ~
( from the television series - The Wonder Years )

I always feel you cannot have a present unless you have a past. Our life is a series or a collection of memories that stick with us till eternity because the precious ones never fade even with the passage of time. Memories can be good and bad both and while the good memories are meant to be cherished, it is always better to let the bad ones slip through the fingers and be forgotten like a bad dream . Today, we are only talking about the good memories, the ones that bring a smile to our face every time we think about something.....it can be a memory pertaining to your childhood, a holiday, your siblings, your first home, your first job, a relationship, your parents or anything else..... the list can go on and on. The happy experiences in life can be preserved and kept fresh only if you keep sprinkling the water of memories over them time and again :)
Memories have a habit of stumbling out from the most unexpected quarters when we are least expecting them. I always find some pressed flowers and leafs fly out as I flip through some old books . A flower here , a leaf there contains many secrets, many stories of events, occasions and people with whom it was associated and surely makes you go back to the day when it originally crossed paths with you. It makes me  smile and remember the day with fondness.Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it :)

 


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Handwritten letters, postcards and greeting cards have an uncanny knack of becoming the most affectionate  memories even years after they were written or posted. Every time you come across them, the memories and emotions surge over you like an unsurmountable wave that always leaves behind a lump in the throat . I still have the first letter my mother wrote to me after I got married . It did not contain any sermons and do's or don'ts (thankfully) but just a simple letter written by a mother to a daughter who had just stepped into a new world . It is something that can make me smile even on a grey day :) Yes, ma , I still have that with me ( in case you are reading this ).

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Photographs - Can there ever be an alternate way of creating or capturing memories ? Never ! I'm sure we all have several pictures of our loved ones, clicked in different locations, different moods, different times, different appearances, at different ages/stages....things/times may change but the only thing that remains constant is the love that emanates and plunges forward from each one of them. We have a wall of memories at home that is dedicated to photographs of family members . Of course, I'm working on a theme and a 'look' for it and hopefully I'll come up with something that enhances the memories attached with each one of them.

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Memories can also be induced by certain smells . Even the faintest waft is enough to transport you back through time and space to a long forgotten moment. The sense of smell can be highly evocative. I still remember the smell of my newborn babies. Coupled with the feeling of being a mother ( a new one at that) the sweet smelling fragrance of little wrinkled hands and feet was truly intoxicating and something I can still re-live every time I close my eyes and take a deep breath :)
Talking of smells, I have a funny story to share here. Whenever I see and smell Rajnigandha flowers ( tube roses) I am reminded of the Cricket World Cup finals ( 1996). That was the day when Sri Lanka snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and went on to win the world cup. I am a great cricket enthusiast and as the whole family got together that day to watch the match in our TV room ( Of course , I was'nt married then and this was my parents home I'm talking about ) we were so engrossed in the game that we never even gave more than a glance to the bunch of Rajnigandha flowers picked and placed in a vase by my mother, right next to the sofa. As we spent the entire day soaking up the match starting from the first ball to the end of the innings till the time the world cup trophy was lifted by the Sri Lankan team ( not to mention the post match excitement) inadvertently, we soaked up the fragrance of the flowers too. I don't know about the rest of the family but the entire episode of Cricket world cup finals that year created a deep rooted association with the smell of the flowers. Even today, when I breathe in the fragrance of those flowers even at a florist, what flashes before my eyes is the image of Arvinda D'silva and Arjuna Ranatunga huffing and puffing as they ran for every single run ( since they were not known to be the fittest  players in their team ) just to bring their team closer to the winning total .Now, if you are'nt a cricket fan, you might think I have lost my mind and what's even worse, even if you are one, you still might draw the same conclusion about me ( !) .Okay, enough of my bizarre memories but really, nothing is more memorable than a smell that can help you to conjure a childhood summer, a moonlit beach, a family dinner or .......even flashes of Sri Lankan players running for dear life  ;)

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There are times when even the smallest and the most unassuming objects become instrumental in containing in themselves strong memories of a red letter day in your life.....for example, these pebbles that came along a whole truck full of sand during the construction of our house . My kids used to spend hours picking pebbles of all shapes and sizes while playing with sand . I picked up the most cutest, smoothest and the roundest ones I could find in the heap and have preserved it as a reminder of the good old days of house building. They also contain the headaches and heartaches that came along with the construction  work and saw us through the finishing stages  of our home. They have been through this journey with me and I have a special corner in my heart for them. I gave them a facelift when our home completed two years by painting them and they serve as paper weights mainly and also at times adorn my coffee table :)

I also want to salute the people who are living by on memories of the days gone by or of people who are no longer with them. I know how hard that can be . In that case memories serve as lifelines and I know many people who cling on to them, refusing to let go.  Hats off to them. That needs a lot of courage !

And because I don't want to leave you on a low note, I must ask you to share here with me, some memories YOU hold dear. It can be anything you find worth mentioning . I'll be happy to hear it from you :)
And aah,.........wait a minute! Before I leave, I have some very exciting news for you. This post is a 'to be continued' post and part 2 will not be about me at all ( are'nt you glad !!! ). I have some lovely people sharing some beautiful memories here with me. I'll be back next week so do watch this space and keep dreaming. That's how memories are made :)