Childhood Memories

Yesterday's event made me reminisce about my childhood. I thought of many evenings of arguments with my parents. They wanted me to come home and I wanted to stay outside and play with my friends some more. It was never enough! We played elaborate versions of hide and seek, pretend store, pretend war, we made "Secrets". For those who are not familiar with this last Polish kid play invention, allow me to explain. Secrets were small pictures hidden in the ground. We would collect pretty papers, flowers, leaves, anything that caught our liking and imagination. Then, we would search for a piece of a flat glass (yes, glass was very readily available everywhere and we all survived!), dig a hole in the ground away from the crowds. Remember we were making secrets! We would arrange all the findings into a nice form, cover it with the piece of glass so it would look like a picture, and throw a good amount of soil to hide it and making it your secret, your treasure. We would share it with besties only! So innocent and so creative! Good old times!

We would run around construction sites, play in school yards, walk through forest, hills and wild parts of parks. No fear, but no danger either. People were good and trustworthy. Kids were fearless and respectful. And on the last day of summer vacations we would all gather in our neighbourhoods, sit around benches and gossip, fantasize, dream, complain, make fun of, love and hate. But most of all, we would cross our fingers and wish for the night to never end, for the next day to never come. The school year was a torture. Loads of homework and nothing but studying and talk about studies. But then, because it was so demanding and hard, it also made skipping school with the entire class more pleasurable. It made us feel like champions, high achievers, rebels. And teachers had become these big giants who didn't scare us anymore! We were fearless on that one day called "The National Skippers Day"! I know that many of you who grew up in countries other than Poland cannot identify but trust me, it was all glorious, fun, liberating! Yet, we grew up to be respectful, responsible, loving and caring people.

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I think my parents would tell you a different story of the communist era. It was hard for them. They had to make it work for us to be able to live a decent life, be dressed, eat, go to school and live a respectful live. And I am conscious of all that. I am thankful to them for giving me all they could. At the same time I feel like something is gone irreversibly. My son will not experience it. He will never know what it means to stay up until 12-1 a.m. in order to finish homework or do all the prescribed readings. He will never know what it means to come home with that well earned A+. Also, he will never know how grown up it feels to play outside with friends till the wee hours of the evening! He will never know how responsible it made me feel to cross streets, go to school, pick up some eggs from the store for mama, all by myself.

I just shared my most private secret of how I used to study to get goo grades and remember all the info. I  would study all day and then, right before going to bed i would put all the study material under my pillow. I am telling you. it worked every time. I needed no cheat notes. I would all leak overnight, right into my empty head!

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Can you identify with any of that? Let me know. I am curious about you!!