𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 ..

a life through little memories

• the first room i can remember : the corridors of the first apartment i lived in, when i was around one year old and still learning to walk
• the view from my childhood bedroom window : a large, empty backyard covered in short grass, bordered by tall pine and araucaria trees
• a rainy day spent unusually : spinning around in an office chair while waiting for the power to return, so i could go back to playing on the family computer, when i was around ten
• a fragrance i associate with someone i love : the sweet scent of almonds, which always reminds me of my mom
• the smell of a relative's home : the comforting smell of pot roast cooking in my grandma's kitchen
• my preferred way of spending childhood afternoons : sitting on the living room floor, writing in my diary while listening to cartoons on the television
• the first thing i remember making with my hands : painting a little pencil holder shaped like a pencil, when i was around four years old
• a hiding place i considered my own : an abandoned cabin hidden in the woods, which i discovered when i was around seven
• a little kindness i have never forgotten : unexpectedly meeting a childhood friend who offered to buy me an ice cream on a terribly hot and stressful afternoon
• the first book i remember calling my favorite : alice in wonderland
• a journey whose destination i remember less than the journey itself : the trip to the seaside for the very first time, when i was seven years old
• the first profession i dreamed of having : becoming a veterinarian
• something ordinary that felt precious to me as a child : my mom waking me in the morning to tell me that breakfast was already waiting for me at the table
• a toy i carried everywhere : a smiling teddy bear with a little heart embroidered on its left foot
• a meal that tasted better in a particular situation : eating lasagna after an afternoon of swimming and playing in the pool with my cousins during summer
• the first time i felt particularly proud of something i made : a portrait of my mother, complete with a handmade frame, which i drew when i was around six years old
• the first time i remember missing someone : a particular morning at preschool, shortly after my mom had dropped me off
• a precious object i saved my allowance to buy : a miniature flashlight, small enough to carry with me wherever i went
• the place that appears most often in my dreams : the school i attended during my middle school years
• a game i invented as a child : drawing and cutting out miniature paper houses, complete with the tiniest little objects i could possibly make
• the first animal i remember befriending : a baby chick i met while visiting a farm, when i was around four years old
• something peculiar i believed when i was little : that i would certainly grow up to be rich. how, exactly ? i hadn't the faintest idea ; i simply had a feeling
• a birthday that felt different from the others : my ninth birthday, which i remember remarkably well, although nothing particularly special happened
• my earliest memory of using the internet : setting up my very first email account with my mom, when i was seven years old
• a dream that returned to me for many years : walking around a lake near my childhood home, sometimes finding my way across by little bridges, and other times by swimming
• a peculiar fear i eventually outgrew : cockroaches
• something someone taught me without realizing it : my mom teaching me that i needn't always give something my very best effort if doing so makes me unhappy ; sometimes, doing just enough is enough
• a situation remembered for one seemingly unimportant detail : sitting in my aunt's backyard at fourteen years old, quietly looking at the empty swimming pool
• a familiar household sound that no longer belongs to my days : the long, drawn-out meows of my childhood cat
• a song that reminds me of a particularly happy afternoon : that day, by sakuzyo
• a conversation that has remained with me : talking with my mom as a teenager about how life ought not to be so difficult, and how people shouldn't have to be strong all the time
• a little treasure whose whereabouts i no longer know : a small rag doll lovingly made by my mom, which i adored as a little girl