I still remember how it felt like to be a child; a young soul free of all sorts of restraints and worries! Those times were the best of my life, the best I could recall now that I am older, and the best to truly paint these words here with the most vibrant and beautiful colors ever!
Reminiscence of those buoyant days usually comes to me unbeckoned. I never put my mind into doing this, into remembering; memories just play themselves in my head ever so sweetly, ever so discreetly, over and over again; leaving me unguarded and unprotected against their charm and that magical spell they cast upon me every time they decide to barge into my mind and heart!
Now that I am 26, I can still remember how it felt like to be that girl of 10 or 12 years of age! I can literally close my eyes and go back in time to the days when I would sleep over at my auntie's house during the summer holidays and have the best time of my life, as it did feel so back then! For me, those days had been something I would not have traded for anything in the world! I mean, getting the chance to spend days and days with my cousins, all 6 of them, when I had no sisters myself and instead 3 brothers; that was something by the way!
I remember how my mom & dad would let me sleep over for a night or two, and when the time came for me to go back home I would always end up crying and begging them for another day or two! My stay, however, would most of the time stretch into a week or even 10 days! I mean, my bursting into tears did always find its way into mom's and dad's hearts;P
You might wonder what made me crave being with my cousins so badly, so desperately; I would simply say it was the spontaneity which marked every single act of fun we did come up with at the time. It is amazing how we managed to occupy our time with so many different activities, which left us almost with no time at all to feel bored or fed up! Sometimes we would do nothing, nothing at all, and yet we still felt content and happy to enjoy the moment of togetherness.
One of the things I remember that we enjoyed doing very much was turning on the radio on Emirates FM, usually in the afternoon at around 4, and listen to it till prayer time! It is funny now that I remember it, but honestly that gave us so much fun then. Well, we would sit in one of my cousins' room and look at the endless stream of cars moving at all directions on the main road, which is a few meters away from my auntie's house. The house by the way overlooks a spacious open yard, after which comes the main highway, and in the middle there used to be a big palm tree, which is no longer there! That was the view we would stare at for hours, all the while listening to songs and drifting away to a place where we could be all alone with our dreams & fantasies. One of my cousins, who is now married and has 3 children, would just sit on the bed and lose herself to her own personal thoughts which we could not fathom at the time; given the fact that she was not that much talkative.
Another thing we did do everyday, amongst so many other activities, was going to the nearby cold store and buying loads of snacks to eat while watching TV! This is still something I enjoy doing occasionally;)
The night time, however, was another story all together! We would never go to bed early of course! What we did instead was gather; Nada, Amal and myself in Amal's room, lie each on her well prepared sleeping space and talk about anything and everything! Hours would pass by without any of us realizing how close we came to staying up till 3 or 4 am, sometimes even till the sun rises! Apparently we never came close to being short of conversations, for there was always something to chat about no matter how trivial or nonsensical it seemed or felt. You know how girls are; they always seem to find something to talk about.
So, because of staying up late, we would end up waking up a little after noon time! To be exact, at lunch time most of the time! Then, the day would repeat itself, time would pass like crazy and eventually I would go back home, dwell on the memories and adapt to the dreariness of having no sisters! To the loneliness that is!
Now, whenever I feel like smiling or laughing wholeheartedly, I close my eyes before surrendering to sleep and I just give in to the beauty of those memories of my childhood. When I do that, I swear I can see it all in my mind's eye! I can hear us talking, laughing, screaming, silent even! I can feel the breeze coming from the open window in my cousin's room playing with my hair and caressing my cheeks while I sat listening to those songs on the radio. I can see it all, smell it all and feel it all!
I remember the joy.. The innocence.. The Childishness.. The craziness.. The quiet & the hilarious moments.. I remember us being so happy.. So alive.. I remember it all..
So, because of staying up late, we would end up waking up a little after noon time! To be exact, at lunch time most of the time! Then, the day would repeat itself, time would pass like crazy and eventually I would go back home, dwell on the memories and adapt to the dreariness of having no sisters! To the loneliness that is!
Now, whenever I feel like smiling or laughing wholeheartedly, I close my eyes before surrendering to sleep and I just give in to the beauty of those memories of my childhood. When I do that, I swear I can see it all in my mind's eye! I can hear us talking, laughing, screaming, silent even! I can feel the breeze coming from the open window in my cousin's room playing with my hair and caressing my cheeks while I sat listening to those songs on the radio. I can see it all, smell it all and feel it all!
I remember the joy.. The innocence.. The Childishness.. The craziness.. The quiet & the hilarious moments.. I remember us being so happy.. So alive.. I remember it all..
