Category: memories

Practicing tying a knot

As a kid, I was a girl guide and my brothers were Boy Scouts.

The girl guides weren’t taught anything regarding camping but the Boy Scouts were taught all the skills they’d need to survive in the wild, including setting up a tent, making fire, and tying knots.

My younger brother was very close to me and he used to share whatever he learned in his lessons, so I too learned the basic survival skills, including tying different sorts of knots; nautical knots, reef knots, and slip knots.

Learning how to tie a reef knot was a useful skill as it meant I could secure two things with rope or string with no fear of the knot slipping.

The things we learn as children have a way of slipping into our deep subconscious and making them instinctive so whenever I want to secure something, I automatically tie a non-slip knot.

This word took me back half a century to the days when we were eager to learn new skills and then show them off to others to impress them.

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Written in response to Six Sentences Story- Knot, hosted by Denise, of the Girlie on the edge’s blog

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55 years without you

Today

It’s been 55 years

55 years since you left us

No goodbyes no last hugs

You died without us being aware of the tragedy happening

We were too young to understand or grieve for your loss

Took me many many years to accept what fate had dealt us

No one talked about you when we were young

Perhaps they thought it would be too painful for us

I grew up without knowing the mother who birthed me

Forever imagining what sort of person you were

Life goes on, and people learn to live with loss

We did too but there is a big hole in the place

Where your love and memories should have resided

But I can say despite all that emptiness

I love you mother

Though it’s been 55 years

Since I saw you last

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This week I chose this image for a reason. Today it’s been 55 years since my mom passed away. This poem is to express my feelings about her passing which have always been buried deep in my heart for there was never a time I openly grieved for her. It was always too late.

My mom at the age of 19

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Celebrating life

September 12, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about balloons on a bumper. Is it a spectacle, an occasion, an eccentricity? Why are the balloons there? Who is involved? Go where the prompt leads!

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Mourning the death of a loved one is natural, but most people who have lived a full life prefer that their life be celebrated rather than mourned.

When I die, I’d like there to be balloons tied to the hearse, people singing and dancing and telling each other of happy occasions they spent with me. I’d love to leave behind a happy legacy in the hearts of people. I do hope that they would recall only the good things that I did or said and not the petty stuff that we all are guilty of from time to time.

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Word count; 99

Written for 99 Word Story, hosted by Charli Mills of Carrot ranch

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Concession form

It was almost 40 years ago that I got into medical college in Lahore, where I was going to live in a girls’ hostel because my family lived in Islamabad.

We didn’t get Saturdays off and the summer break was only 4 weeks long because studying medicine was a serious business so if we got any unexpected vacation days we would all make a beeline for the students’ clerk’s office.

Why him, you’d ask: the answer was simple, we wanted concession forms to travel by train to our homes.

A concession form made it possible for the students to travel at half the fare in the economy class for just 10 Rs, which was about 10 cents, not much but we were on a student budget so every bit made a difference.

If the announcement for the day/days off was unexpected, the clerk was mobbed with both girls and boys asking him to stamp our forms, which sometimes we got just in the nick of time, and then we made a mad dash for the railway station to catch the train.

Traveling home was another adventure altogether as we seldom found seats to sit on so we would sit on our bags, singing and joking all the way and eating strange, unidentified food from every station the train stopped at; what fun we had!

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Written for Six Sentences Story- Form, hosted by Girlie on the edge’s blog- Denise

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A box of clothes left behind

August 8, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about “the one who left the dress.” A 1940s-era dress still hangs in an abandoned house. Who left it and why? You can take any perspective and write in any genre. It can be a ghost story. Or not. Go where the prompt leads!

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My mom passed away 55 years ago, when I was barely 6. When I was 15, my grandmother showed me a box of her clothes that she had preserved with care for me. It was such a unexplainable feeling to touch the clothes she had worn when she was alive, because I hardly remembered her.

I altered most of them to my size as I was quite good at stitching by that age. And wore them with pride. It didn’t matter to me that the fabrics were outdated, just that they once belonged to my mom whom I loved.

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Word count; 99

In response to 99 Words Story- Dress, hosted by Charli Mills of carrot ranch

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It’s almost nine

It’s almost nine at night
I’ve left the door unbolted 
You will walk in any minute now

It's almost time to go to bed
I’m tired of sitting, waiting for you
When will you come home my dearest?

It’s almost midnight 
And I’ve given up hope
Is that a car I hear 
And the slam of the door

Are you home?

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Written for CCC # 194, hosted by Crispina Kemp

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A simmering pool

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When I close my eyes and think back
To those bygone days of my youth
I see a pool of memories Simmering in silver moonlight 
Dipping my fingers in the water
I catch an elusive memory 
Of times of silliness and childish joy
That brings a big smile to my face 
Or something that causes me to cringe with embarrassment 
But I cherish all my memories 
Because these are a treasure 
That can never be replaced

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Written for;Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Memory, hosted by Sue W and GC

Also included weekly prompt- Wednesday challenge from Susan and GC is POOL.

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Encounter with the yellow butterfly

June 27, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about swarms. What could swarm? How does the swarm impact the people or place in your story? Is there something unusual about the swarm? Go where the prompt leads!

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I was four when I had my first encounter with wasps . I was alone on the veranda one summer afternoon. There was a hole in the wall and I saw a yellow butterfly crawl into it. I was intrigued so I stepped in for closer observation and was suddenly attacked by a swarm of wasps.

My mother came running when she heard my screams. Mercifully, my memory is a bit hazy but I remember being given medication to control the allergic reactions to the stings.

For a few days I was the favorite one in the family.

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Word count: 99

Written in response to 99 Word story- Swarm, a challenge hosted by Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch.

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Seven stones ( Pitho)

June 6, 2022, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that features stone-stacking. How does the activity fit into a story? Who is involved? What is the tone? Do the stones have special meaning? Go where the prompt leads!

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Pitho was a very popular game when I was growing up. Two teams of minimally two players each could play this outdoor game. All you needed was a tennis ball and seven flat stackable stones.

This game involved hitting and scattering the pile of stones with the ball and then trying to put it together again without getting out. It was a wonderful way to run, use excess energy and have lots of fun.

Seeing this photo took me back many decades. We kids were able to entertain ourselves without any gadgets or devices.

Beautiful, fun-filled youthful days!

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Word count; 99

Pitho, or seven stones was/is a very popular game of the Indian sub-continent.

In response to 99 Word story, hosted by Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch

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