Friday, August 17, 2007

Memories
I am a little hazy on my earliest memories. A lot of times have morphed together and actual memories have become confused with photos of events.

I can remember sitting in the car on a stinking hot day watching my aunt drop my cousins off at the pool and being told I couldn't go because I had to see my baby sister...not a good way to encourage affection, I think it took a decade for me to really like her after that! That would be a 6 yo memory.
I can also remember being dropped off at my grandmother's and sat up on a stool to help her make hedgehog slice. I remember that specifically as a watershed moment because she said, "I like having these little helpers because they tell me which ingredients I have already put in." It wasn't long enough after that full Alzheimer's and Parkinson's took my chook and garden loving grandma away to a world where she was just there and no longer a real part.

But the memory that is quite early and embarrassingly distinctive is of walking up the passage at home and hearing the news of a death on the radio. Now, who's death was memorable enough to spark my memory? Yes, got it in one I imagine, because it was 30 years ago this week, Elvis.

I ran back down the passage and told Mum, who was devastated. She had loved him so long and always thought she would meet him and the Elvis records have been on continuous loop there ever since!

So, not quite 30 years later and not realising there was any anniversary on the horizon, what do you think I made my daughter on retreat for her "I feel guilty because I left you" present?
This fine little Elvis bag, with material tonya lead me to at equilter. It has another picture of him in Blue Hawaii on the back. I put a book in it and she walked around hugging it for the rest of the day after I returned. She had even taped Viva Las Vegas while I was away-how is that for perpetuating the sins of the previous generations!

4 comments:

  1. Funny how we all remember where we were when " The King " died. I was on holiday with my family in a caravan on the North Wales coast. I must have been 8 years old. Sure doesn't seem like 30 years ago !

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  2. I don't remember where I was when Elvis died. I was a Beatles loving kid through and through. It wasn't until after college that I became a fan. Anyway, fabulous bag and glad your daughter loves it. Viva Elvis!

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  3. I don't really remember where I was when I heard Elvis had died . . . he just wasn't cool when I was growing up. Took me some years to realize what an entertainer he was and his huge contribution to so many that followed.

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  4. Love that story -- and the fact that your daughter is a fan as well. I wonder if my little one will get just as stuck on some of my music?

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