Monday 27 August 2007

Other People's Memories

Dropped Sebastian & Abigail off at their Granny's house (Marc's mum) down on the Isle of Wight yesterday. The house is like a ghost town with no interruptions or noise. Which is good and bad in equal measure.

Have been going through the stacks of laundry, post and email trying to sort out everything that builds up whilst you are away for several weeks.

Found an email sent to me by Pam who is a cousin of mine on my father's side of the family. She has been working very hard to get our family tree on www.geni.com to be the best and the biggest. It has been great to reconnect with her over the last couple months.

Pam's email was a memory of me when I was young that she had. Specifically it was a memory of my bedroom furniture:

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about a flashback memory I had about you the other day...I remember visiting you at your house in Colo. and going up to your bedroom. I think my jaw dropped and my eyes popped out of my head when I laid eyes on your beautiful canopy bed ! I had never known anyone with one before and I was so sure that you must be a princess ! I was soooooooooooooo envious ! (Does that make me sound like a hick from Nebraska or what ?! ) And if I remember correctly, your bedroom and/or bedspread was purple/lavender. Is that right?

I found this so fascinating on a number of levels. I hadn't really thought that my bed would ever cause that reaction in anyone else. I loved that bed. My grandmother, Tressie (my mom's mom) had bought it for me along with matching bureaus and desks. The bedspread wasn't lavender but white and the carpeting was a pale blue. The wallpaper had blue and green daisy flowers in vertical stripes. I had the corner room with 2 windows one overlooking the back garden and the other the neighbours house. I could look directly into the neighbour boy's room.

But for Pam to remember this. And to remember her reaction? After all these years? It made me laugh. And it made me remember to be thankful for the childhood I had. I'd never thought of myself as a princess! But I must have been.

PS Pam is a redneck from Nebraska! But so am I!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so honored to have my email to you mentioned on your blog! Now I feel like a celebrity! But darn, now the whole blog world knows that my mind is slipping...I was way off on the color of your room :( And welcome back! Sure did miss your posts. Your vacation sounds/looks wonderful! How fun!

Janell said...

welcome back!
I had a similar childhood experience visiting a cousin in Colorado, only it was her collection of Barbie dolls that made my jaw drop. She had so many... must have been one of each one that came out in the 60s & 70s. I convinced myself that they must have been millionaires.
Here's to all the rednecks from Nebraska!