Memories

You know those moments when you are just going about your day, and then suddenly you are reminded of something or someone? You could be walking a long a path and suddenly smell the honeysuckle growing in the distance and immediately a memory floods into your mind. It can feel as if you are instantly transported back to that particular memory, and for a moment, you feel as if you are reliving that event again. It is as if you are back in that time and place.


I was walking back to my apartment today when suddenly this smell filled my nose. I can't exactly describe it, but I immediately had the feeling of being back at my great grandparents house. I remember the feeling of running around outside, catching grasshoppers, and watching the cows as they grazed. When I woke up in the mornings my great grandmother would be in the kitchen making breakfast, and she would always let me cut out the biscuits. I was very young at this time, and it always made me feel grownup when she let me help.
There was a swing on the front porch that held about three people, and I remember sitting on that swing in the late afternoon with my family all gathered outside while we talked and watched as the day went by. One summer a stray cat had a litter of kittens under that porch and my cousins and I spent all summer watching and playing with them.


Even though I was young when all of this happened, the memories are still clear in my mind. I loved that house. It was old, nothing fancy, but it held the personality and love of all of my family that entered it. A few years back some of my family and I went back to that house, it was sold after my great grandmother had passed away. It wasn't the same house in the way it looked. The previous owners had let the house fall by the wayside. The grass was overgrown, the paint of the house was peeling, the wood damaged, but it still brought back all of those wonderful memories. The barn, while not in the best of shape, was still off in the distance from the house. I miss those summers. I had some great times in that old house that I would not trade for the world. 


So, as I walked back home today, my mind was filled with these wonderful memories. Maybe I will make a trip back to that house some day soon. It's been far too long.