Time Thoughts
I was visiting my mom in a nursing home far from our hometown yesterday and last night I got to thinking about time and how the passing of time affects people. In the past I have been a hospital volunteer to visit with people who have to spend extended time in hospital. I was remembering that most of them wanted to tell me something about their parents. Almost all of them would say, "My parents are dead now." Then they would tell me of the things their mom or dad really liked or how they had influenced them.
My mom must often think about the days when her parents were living, because she sometimes thinks she's back in the days when they were part of her daily life. It must be a universal tendency for people, that the older they get, the more they think of the days when they were kids and were living at home with their parents.
I'm starting to notice this tendency in myself. I keep trying to remember what I felt like when I was a little girl. I have flashes of memory of the child I used to be, but much of my early experiences are buried deep in my forgotten archives.
Just before I fall asleep at night, I reach back to childhood to see if I can bring up some long forgotten fact. Do I in fact remember my daddy coming home from hunting, wearing his woolrich hunting coat with the big roomy pockets, and telling me to reach in and get something that he found for me? It would be before I was five years old. I trustingly put my hand into his pocket and felt something soft, warm and furry. It was my kitty! How happy I was to pull my kitty out of his deep pocket and cuddle her in my arms. I think I remember, but do I? I wonder if I know this because my parents told me this story. The memory has awakened today, though no one reminded me of it recently. It's a good memory of a happy time long ago. It shows me a happy, trusting little girl and a caring, gentle father who thought of a nice way to surprise his little girl. It is a part of who I am today.
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