Funny how memory works. When I was a little girl, everything seemed to be so very big; trees, staircases, people, furniture, everything was huge! Can you imagine two straight back chairs that when placed side by side could make a crib for a 3-year-old. I recreated just such a crib for you in a series of photographs above, it was an easy thing to do since the idea has stuck in my memory from so many years!
What about time…how quickly everything passes by now at 62. 24 hours to a person my age is more like a full week to a child of 3 to 5! At that age, everything is a discovery. Everyone was so wonderfully fuller, more complete and so much nicer or nastier. There’s something hyper-real in the workings of a child’s mind. I’ve often thought that as a childwe couldn’t imagine how the day would end, it’s always a surprise, whereas now, we’ve programmed our day until there is nothing left to surprise us.
An adult remembers his past differently, too. He colors the past with emotions so that the past changes, people change and indeed even the world changes. And though I remember those two chairs as being the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in, experimentation in later years has convinced me that I must have slept very badly indeed! The chairs would have come apart each time I moved…the pillows would have fallen off, and it’s so narrow…But, I remember it being the most comfortable bed I ever slept in and I remember how much fun it was making it and grandma and mom laughing with me as I got into it….
And the future? It was imponderable when I was a child. The very thought of 1980 or 2000, or heaven forbid, 2014…my head would begin to swim even just thinking about the idea of being 20 years old! Those numbers had magical connotations…imponderables as I said, unthinkable dates this assured the coming of the future in all it’s magical mystery, because no man could manipulate those numbers…the future could be what it would be.
voyage through time
reality imagined
tomorrow assured
A Haibun inspired by this quote offered by Ligo Haibun this week: The future is assured. It’s just the past that keeps changing. Russian Proverb The quote was furnished by Ese from Ese’s Voice.
Bastet and Sekhmet's Library 
Oh I just loved this post! I’ve never done the chairs side-by-side, but I did sew up a little sling to make an improvised high-chair in those early days when restaurants weren’t so welcoming of babies. Great trip down memory lane.
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Thanks Barb…I really do remember that trip and those chairs fondly….I can actually see in my mind’s eye the whole scene! 🙂
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I used to make a train – two chairs connected with legs with their backs on the floor. Wonderful writing. You sent me back in my own childhood in less then a minute.
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cool…with my sons I used to lay the chairs on their sides and they played under the table pretending it was a castle!
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What a lovely reflection on time. You bought the magic my own childhood back to me.
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Happy you enjoyed it and went on your own trip to the past! 😉
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I made a ‘circus tent’ out of the dining room chairs and a large bed sheet when I was a kid. I wonder if it was so entertaining and comfortable because of the fun of putting it together. Also I remember it got me attention, which for a kid can be the most comforting thing in the world.
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Yeah, know what you mean. It was usually a whole lot of fun turning a big box into the USS Enterprise with a matchbox tricorder et al…not to speak of all the other neat stuff one could do with a sheet or a stick. Thanks for reminding me Charles.
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Boxes were the greatest toys in the world.
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I agree 100 % I still love boxes even if I don’t turn them into space stations LOL.
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They make great footstools these days.
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lol…true and you can paint them in pastel colors
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I loved the pictures and the lovely reminiscences. I remember sleeping in odd places when the family would gather in large numbers. Displaced from my bed, camping under a table, on a cot in a hallway, on an old couch in a basement. i don’t remember ever being tired the next day. 🙂 Children are so flexible.
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Yes Brenda, I theink the magic word is children…as children everything was more of an adventure rather than an inconvenience, so we got bumped out of our bed to make room for an aunty, but what we really did was go “camping” on the livingroom floor with a cousin… 🙂
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Exactly, making a secret cave under a table, being out of earshot in the basement with three cousins. Good times.
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Fuzzy memories so well portrayed. Is that the way it was or the way I want it to be. What is real, what is in my memory or what really was. You bring up many questions to ponder. That’s a good read.
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Ah thanks Eric, I’m glad you enjoyed and commented this haibun. Yes, memories are a funny thing and I was meditating on that when the prompt came up. It was interesting.
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