"I enjoy the cleaning up - something about the getting of things in order for winter - making the garden secure - a battening down of hatches perhaps... It just feels right." - David Hobson
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a boy can dream...
especially on his birthday
...to be a man with responsibility... so take care of the damn smelly cat!!!
dear lee,
hi! today is a special day for you... ilang taon ka na nga?! 30?! wow!! you don’t look your age... or maybe it’s just the down-aging syndrome?!
seriously now, i wish you all the goodness in this world and a little sprinkler of those nerve wracking phenomenon that life brings – for without those, life would seem to be useless. meaning, i wish you all the best and at the same time i wish you all the shitty crap, so that you may learn life through all its fabulous adventure... just like POOH... you know... that simpleminded-kuno-stupid-pala-bear!
always,
lynn
----------------------------------------
i found this self-made birthday greeting card last saturday when i was doing some cleaning in my room. it was given to me by a barkada-friend during my 20th birthday, i think. this really got me smiling. brought back wonderful memories of days that was.
what made me smile even more were the other letters i found given to me by friends from high school and college that i’ve managed to keep. small notes written in special paper. birthday tags. greeting cards. one even written in a 1 x 1 piece of wrapping paper.
just non-sense stuff really. all happy and written with so much youthfulness. but all special =D
i also got to reread letters sent to me by penpals from across the globe. i was a big fan of that penpal service, international youth service (IYS), way back high school. i never got to get in touch with any of them though after a couple of correspondence.
i was trying to look for love letters. but got nothing. which reminds me, love life was non-existent at that time. =D
amazingly, i also found out that i was still able to keep my school IDs since i was in grade 6 'til fourth year high school. the only one missing was my 1st year ID card. why and how i managed to keep them, i don’t know. i literally saw how i changed from a chubby faced little boy to a lanky young man. i realized how siopao i so looked when i was in grade school.
and my one and only college ID (with staples in all four corners to keep it from falling apart) i also got to keep. we’re supposed to surrender it after graduation for us to get our honorable dismissal certificate. but i managed to keep both :D
i also found ballpens that i’ve used during high school and college. an autograph book. an intentionally grammatically-wrong article written by myself and a high school classmate. college papers and articles. journals from all the retreats during college. test papers even. everything carefully organized.
all of these put a smile on my face. it always nice to look back.
i really don’t know why i still keep them.
it will take me a longer time before i’ll be able to let go of these stuff. because throwing these things away would also mean letting go of memories that made me happy before.
so, i think, for now, these will still be kept in a safe place. carefully placed and tucked inside that clear plastic container.
waiting to be read and reminisced once again in the next room cleaning. :)
Insignificant
3 weeks ago
5 comments:
i also keep the same stuffs like yours, to me those things are sentimental. I also have my school id's from elementary to college, including my elementary notebooks and txtbooks. sometimes when i clean my room i try to browse my old notebooks reading them and how it makes me laugh reading my grammar.
Lee,
What you wrote reminded me of this:
Bonsai
Edith L. Tiempo
All that I love
I fold over once
And once again
And keep in a box
Or a slit in a hollow post
Or in my shoe.
All that I love?
Why, yes, but for the moment --
And for all time, both.
Something that folds and keeps easy,
Son's note or Dad's one gaudy tie,
A roto picture of a queen,
A blue Indian shawl, even
A money bill.
It's utter sublimination,
A feat, this heart's control
Moment to moment
To scale all love down
To a cupped hand's size,
Till seashells are broken pieces
From God's own bright teeth,
And life and love are real
Things you can run and
Breathless hand over
To the merest child.
It is in the details and nuances of mementos and keepsakes that our lives are documented. And it is in the way that we effect change in others that our lives find meaning, relevance.
I too have boxful of nothing's at home. Movie stubs, scribbled notes on tissue and receipts, post-its and old school ID's. Knickknacks that remind and relive a former life.
Beautiful post.
i still hold on to a lot of letters..and notes.. =)
@justine: it's those little things in the past that indeed gives us a hearty laugh :)
@kane: aaawwww thanks :) a wonderful article. thanks for sharing.
@red: thanks :)
@paci: =)
Post a Comment