childhood memories

In this memory, my little brother is two years old. He has recently started having his own “study time” with our mother. The task is to complete a few mazes in a toddler workbook that my mother got from an educational program for young children. The first time he tried it, I heard, he did […]

In this memory, I am nine years old. One day in early March, as soon as the school lunch is brought in to our classroom, a cheer is heard. “Today’s dessert is a cake!” Somebody exclaims, and I cannot hide my excitement. Each day, our school lunch comes with some kind of dessert, but a

(This story is a loose continuation from “An ancient wedding on the couch” posted two days ago.) One evening of early March, after early supper, my mother calls me and my little brother to the living room of our tiny half-dilapidated apartment. She has her camera in her hands. “Stand there, Sweeties,” she says and

In this memory, it is spring just before I turn six. On the couch inside our tiny half-dilapidated apartment is the decoration of traditional Japanese dolls to celebrate our March holiday hinamatsuri. These are expensive dolls that my grandmother bought us shortly after I was born, and they are usually carefully stored in a box

The spring I turned seven, my maternal grandmother came to visit us at our new house in the suburb to celebrate two things: my birthday and my first participation in the annual concert of the local music school I had recently started attending. I had been taking piano lessons at this school along with my

I am five years old in this memory. On weekends, my family often drive to a large shopping mall in the outskirt of our town to buy something we cannot find in the neighbourhood stores. I love this drive because it is long enough to enjoy the scenery and the music from the car audio

In this memory, I am five years old. One fine day, my mother gives us a permission to blow bubbles in the balcony of our tiny half-dilapidated apartment. My little brother and I jump in delight and immediately run to the balcony. We each hold a pink bottle of bubbles solution and a wand in

In this memory, I am nine years old. In the summer, I go to the local public pool with my parents to practice swimming. At school, we have recently started learning the front crawl, and I need to practice it so that I can catch up with the rest of the class. I am not

In this memory, I am five years old. A few times a year, I catch a cold and my mother takes me to the local hospital along with my little brother. Once at the hospital, my mother registers us at the reception desk, and we wait in the hallway sitting on one of the benches.

When it comes to wearing socks, there are two kinds of people on this earth: those who meticulously arrange each sock so that the toe goes to the toe and the heal goes to the heal, and those who do not give any thought to such a matter. As far as I can remember, my