Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Nostalgia Day

I woke up with a bad cold this morning, and as DH kindly told me not to do anything I decided to get ahead with some scrapbook challenges for National Scrapbooking Day on 2nd May. However, hardly had I started to get some ideas and pull some stuff together than I found myself trawling through bags of old bits and pieces - mainly letters, photos and other bits from my student days.

Of course I got completely sidetracked - not a LO did I finish in the course of my meanderings through my late teens and early 20s. I did however find a load of stuff that I really should have ditched a long time ago - stuff that doesn't really go with being married and in my 40s, plus a lot of interesting stuff that reminded me of how I was with my friends in those days, what made us laugh, cry, worry and rant about.

I remembered that once upon a time I had a great relationship with my middle sister and she wrote hilarious letters. I realised that I should have been a lot more confident in myself, that people liked me and the things I did, but I was too hung up to see it at the time.

I remembered a world where AIDS had just been discovered, the Cold War was still hanging over us, there was no internet, mobile phone and we could barely afford airfares or international telephone calls - so we wrote lots more letters - and thanks to them I can go back there.

I also found precious letters from my granny and my mum which I had forgotten I had but will treasure again. I was inspired to try to contact a long lost friend via Friends Reunited, and got an answer which I hope will lead to resumption of contact, however infrequent.

Most of all, I restored old memories, reminded myself of how I used to be, and how far I've come in lots of ways. I wouldn't change my today, but it was good to remember yesterdays.

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