The faintest waft is sometimes enough to induce feelings of hunger or anticipation, or to transport you back through time and space to a long-forgotten moment in your childhood. It can overwhelm you in an instant or simply tease you, creeping into your consciousness slowly and evaporating almost the moment it is detected. ~Stephen Lacey, Scent in Your Garden, 1991 What a wonderful way Lacey has put it. Isn't it true for all of us? The smell of something that takes us to that moment in time. Likewise,I have a special memory from my childhood that's triggered by smell and my what a great memorable experience that was. Who would have thought that after all these years it keeps creeping back to entice me, to make me smile and makes me feel like I am there back in the past! The smell of the first rain would always trigger that moment back about 40 years ago, when my silblings, cousins & I would play in the warm rain,jumping ,shrieking and laughing. I don't even know why we even had umbrellas because most of the time our heads weren't even covered-we'll be twirling them around & around, and of course making sure that we got wet-yes, thoroughly wet! Drinking the rainwater by opening our mouths and looking upwards - as it fell from the sky. Draindrops hitting our upturned faces and then making the way into our mouths. The first rain had that smell mixed with soil and of green grass and of course that smell stayed with me for the rest of my life. I remember that we'd hop from one puddle to another and always chose to be on the green grass where the water ran clear.
My brothers and I would make paper boats to float in the little "rivers" formed and would put flowers or sticks in them and follow them for a long long time to see how far our boats would go before capsizing. :-D I didn't mention we would be barefeet-yes, that was the best part-the feeling of the green wet grass and the warm rain, water swirling around our barefeet -after a while our feet would turn pink & wrinkley because of so much moisture. Only the clap of thunder and flashes of lightening would send us running for cover-otherwise we'd play till it got dark or until the rain stopped. Once the rain stopped it wasn't much fun except for our floating boats because it would get cold. Shivering and sniffling wasn't much fun then.
Mom would always have tea ready for us after our adventures of guiding and trying to keep our boats steady & afloat for a long time. Sometimes she'll have eggplant or other vegetable fritters..mmmmm. My mouth is watering just thining about it. :-D Hey,that was hard work-trying to steer our paper boats -not an easy feat I tell you...of course paper and water didn't work very well together for long-our boats would be so wet that the sides would stick together with our colorful "passengers" squeezed in between. So, yes the tea would a welcoming diversion and it's soothing smell and taste would prepare us for another rainy day or even a sunny day, when we would go looking for oranges, lemons and guavas in the nearby hills. We'd eat those fruits without washing them and have the juices running all over-Sticky fingers & faces but nobody cared. Oh those days were so carefree and unspoiled-those memories will stay with me forever.And now, when I'm all grown up,on rainy days, I would want to go out to jump & hop in the rain,but alas the rain would be so very cold. I still take walks in the rain but this time my head would be covered and I'd be bundled up so that when I come back home I'd be still dry-only this time I'd prepare the tea myself and share with my family-no paper boats to float but yes I do steer the boat of my life as skillfully as possible and lock away the memories worth remembering- until the earthy smell of the rain or the splatter of those rain drops fall on the green grass and I go back- to my warm rain, hot cups of tea, vegetable fritters and paper boats-yet another awesome memorable experience. Now, I share these memories with my children-used to bake cookies & play games with them when they were younger. Here's what I do now when I miss someone or feel a little low-I think of something that I've enjoyed doing and had fun with it before-write it out or even draw a picture of that event if I don't have a photo-get transported back to those moments-I always feel awesome after that! It's worth trying isn't it? :-D
How to build a paper boat :
Fold a piece of paper in half, from top to bottom.
Fold the right corner into the middle of the paper.
Fold the left corner into the middle of the paper.
Fold the bottom of the paper up against both sides.
Insert thumbs into bottom to make a square.
Fold the bottom corners over each other thus creating a triangle.
Insert thumbs into bottom to make a square.
Hold the paper with flaps down.
Fold the corners to the top point.
Pull the middle out to form a square.
Two triangles are at the top.
Pull them apart to create your paper boat.
Wallah! You have a paper boat of your own to play in the rain or you don't wait for a rainy day-use your pool or a bucket--you get my gist I think-use colorful paper or color the white paper with crayons-make it fun with your children or borrow someone elses :-D Go ahead have a blast! I know you want to.
“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” ~George Bernard Shaw
There's this child within you who wants to come out & play~so play & allow yourself to feel great too! Till next time when I share some more of my memorable experiences--I've been thinking of changing the name of my blog--any ideas? Thanks for visiting and let that child within you come out and play today! :-D
