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Filling My Memory Bank and Drawing Out From It
This
morning early as I stood looking out over the back yard the rain was falling
gently. It was cool and the smell was
amazing.
I shut my
eyes and listened to the sound of the rain drops hitting the canopy above the
deck and then dripping on to the deck below.
There was
a perfect stillness in the scene. Nothing was moving.
Suddenly
I was on Cheung Chau Island off the coast of China and apart of Hong Kong. My daughter Anda was in Grade Six at the time
and we were part of her class’s weeklong retreat on that Island. We were staying at the Caritas Retreat
Centre.
As I was
whisked away to that early morning on Cheung Chau I could smell the wet tree
around the Retreat Centre. I could hear the rain drops hitting the roof and the
drops of water falling on to something outside to the windows.
I had
been up for about an hour before others were stirring. Alone on a remote
Chinese island a million miles from my Canada and the life that I once knew as
a boy on the Prairie of Western Canada.
I
remembered this morning the feeling that day of missing my home on the Prairie.
At that moment at the Caritas House I was thinking of when I was a boy sitting
in that east room of my grandparent’s old farm house… and dreaming of what I might
do some day. I wondered what was out
there so far away from that Prairie farm house…
Would I ever be able to see some of the things that were in the National
Geographic Magazines?
It
happened again this morning early. Two
flash backs came in a short while. I was in my mid-forties in one of them and I
was 12 in the other.
Wow! What a feeling that came today from the
simple sound and smell. All of that
locked up inside of my memory. It is
hard to believe that after 56 years and 25 years that they are this much intact.
It has
caused me to think that my memories are my greatest treasure now at 68. What I have done and what I have experienced
is by far the best in my life.
I am not
yet filthy rich. I have lots of things
collected but none of it is as valuable as the memories.
In the
Mall on a hot day recently a little girl about 4 years old came by my table of wood
carvings. She came up to the table and reached up to the carved Golf
Balls. Her mommy told to her to just look
and not touch. Her little hand picked up
and golf ball and felt its weight… then grinned.
As I came
close to her you could smell the hot little head. She had just come in out of
the hot air outside and smelled. She was
so much like my daughters when they were small… whoa… another flash back.
I was a
young dad walking with my daughter on a knoll not far from our apartment in
Oakville, Ontario. My daughter was
walking beside me on that small path leading down to the creek below. We sat
down and she pushed up beside me. He head was wet with perspiration and she
smelled good….
Memories
locked away inside.
My mom
came out of her room the other day with a magazine that had photos in it from
away back in the wartime of WW II. She
said, “I remember times like this…” and passed me the magazine.
She is 91
years and 6 months old… and the memories are still very much intact as well.
In the
last weeks we have spent wonderful days beside Little Lake in
Peterborough. We have been sitting in
the park at Roger’s Cove watching the ducks and the people that come and
go. For well over 4 hours and sometime
for 6 hours we have sat still and enjoyed every minute of the day. Literally now we have stored hundreds upon
hundreds of memories together.
This past
Monday we were at the park. My Mom was sitting further towards the lake from
where we were. A duck walked up to her
chair and nibbled on string hanging down.
Then the duck walked around and plucked at her shoe strings… finally it
settled beside her on the grass and went to sleep. It stayed for a long time beside this old
lady.
Was the duck
a Great Grandmother too?
Mom sat
quietly just looking at the duck and remembering… things from long ago…
I will
remember the summer of 2012… with my Mom sitting at Roger’s Cove and Mrs. Duck….
This
summer I made a new commitment. I will store as many faces and people in my
memory bank as possible.
Whoa…
gotta run… I have a full day of memories to store away now…
~
Murray Lincoln ~
My Mom and Mrs. Duck at Roger’s Cove… the quiet moments...
Mom has her walker sitting in front of he rocking chair.. the duck is on her left side - close to her chair...
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