My grandparents are gone now, but when I visited, I remember many lilac bushes outside their home. I can't smell lilac without thinking of them. My grandmother was a baker and when I see or smell a pie, I always think of her. Pies were her specialty, especially black raspberry, as she had bushes and used her own raspberries. My grandfather grew up on a farm and then had a garden when he moved in the house I knew. In the summer, we would snap beans and shuck corn from the garden. I can feel the heat as we sat outside, working and chatting. So many wonderful memories and the senses bring me back to those times together.
Our three children are grown up and we never changed their rooms... we didn't make offices or crafting rooms... we just left the rooms as they were. I did take over the girls' closets for my clothes and such : ) So, as soon as I go into their rooms for whatever reason, the memories and senses wash over me. I touch the comforters on their beds and think of bedtime stories and tucking in as they were young, then sleepovers as they got older and I can hear the giggles of pre-teens and teenagers. I hear the creaking of our old staircase as someone walked down the steps. Back then, we all had alarm clocks (not smart phones) to wake us up in the morning and my husband still uses an alarm clock, so I hear those "beeps" as all the alarms might wake the 3 teens up at different times. All beautiful memories using my senses. It is all bittersweet, as I ask myself, "where did the time ago" as I think we all do. I am grateful for those senses that take me back to another time of my life.
This is such a beautiful reflection, Kim. I hope you’ll share some of this with your kids. I wonder what they think of their rooms preserved for them just as they were when they last lived at home? It feels like a real gift. Makes me wonder how our kids feel now that I’ve turned one room into an office and another into a guest room?
I also love how easily you are taken back in time by senses. I feel that way too … I think our sense really connect us to the past. Yet, they also have this wonderful way of helping us be present “in the present” too, as we pay attention and notice. They are so powerful.
Thanks so so much for sharing this all. It’s such a gift.
My grandparents are gone now, but when I visited, I remember many lilac bushes outside their home. I can't smell lilac without thinking of them. My grandmother was a baker and when I see or smell a pie, I always think of her. Pies were her specialty, especially black raspberry, as she had bushes and used her own raspberries. My grandfather grew up on a farm and then had a garden when he moved in the house I knew. In the summer, we would snap beans and shuck corn from the garden. I can feel the heat as we sat outside, working and chatting. So many wonderful memories and the senses bring me back to those times together.
Our three children are grown up and we never changed their rooms... we didn't make offices or crafting rooms... we just left the rooms as they were. I did take over the girls' closets for my clothes and such : ) So, as soon as I go into their rooms for whatever reason, the memories and senses wash over me. I touch the comforters on their beds and think of bedtime stories and tucking in as they were young, then sleepovers as they got older and I can hear the giggles of pre-teens and teenagers. I hear the creaking of our old staircase as someone walked down the steps. Back then, we all had alarm clocks (not smart phones) to wake us up in the morning and my husband still uses an alarm clock, so I hear those "beeps" as all the alarms might wake the 3 teens up at different times. All beautiful memories using my senses. It is all bittersweet, as I ask myself, "where did the time ago" as I think we all do. I am grateful for those senses that take me back to another time of my life.
This is such a beautiful reflection, Kim. I hope you’ll share some of this with your kids. I wonder what they think of their rooms preserved for them just as they were when they last lived at home? It feels like a real gift. Makes me wonder how our kids feel now that I’ve turned one room into an office and another into a guest room?
I also love how easily you are taken back in time by senses. I feel that way too … I think our sense really connect us to the past. Yet, they also have this wonderful way of helping us be present “in the present” too, as we pay attention and notice. They are so powerful.
Thanks so so much for sharing this all. It’s such a gift.