My mom takes great joy in frequently spring cleaning and simplifying her home. Clutter to my mom is the sum of something that hasn't found a practical use around the house in about a week! Tough being her kid ;) ... but i do think my extreme sentiMENTALness comes from this minimalist place... which has left me minus any grade 1 books, cute 5 year old paintings, first attempts to write my name and treasure chests filled with cool dress-up gear that I've spotted mom wearing in the photos of her youth.... (breathe out*). But on the other hand, there are a million snaps of me as a baby - one bonus for being the first born. Through the years, i've spent hours lovingly & sentimentally re-sorting the family photos into categories per person, date, occasion and back again. I know every picture and real life event by heart... not that I needed help with my emotional memory bank: the detailed memories begin soon after conception – I kid you not ;) But try get me to remember how many people live in China or anything that has a number attached to it and my brain smokes. EQ vs IQ?!
So, last week my mom gleefully arrives with yet another black bag full of important bits that apparently belong to me. I have been out of the home for almost 10 years and just as I think it's the last batch and we can all move on from the nest, another bag arrives! Old diaries, letters, recipes, magazine cutouts... things I just can't believe i coped without! Everything in me wants to turf without peeking BUT I just can't resist dreaming down memory lane and fitting the puzzle together with the present. In the most recent blackbagbatch I did strike gold - REPORTCARDS - dating from matric all the way back to nursery school. My joy is once again less about the numbers and more about the comments, which are hilarious and SO me. My husband is fascinated with my ability to offer him coffee and then see me boil the kettle about 10 times before he receives his cup an hour or two later. So he asked me if there was a comment about littleange getting distracted in the middle of doing something... and there it was: DEC 1983, age: 6 yrs, 2 months: "Angela thoroughly enjoys the daily creative activity. She tends to dawdle somewhat whilst she is busy, taking a while to finish a given task. Her work is neat and clear and she takes great pride in her achievements"... haha humble proof!
It's great to know that each new morning we get a second chance to work on our character and diligence but I also just love how from birth, such a unique piece of who God made me to be, was already planted there. Sometimes I want to go back to that simple pure way of seeing life, to the kindness of a heart that hasn't yet been bruised... and just play 'gummi' and 'dress-up' for hours ;) SO I WILL ENDEAVOR TO DO JUST THAT! I'm going to record some of the other comments that describe littleange & in turn bigange.. But it's time for a coffee break - this could take a while!
