IT’S ALL IN YOUR MIND
Some everyday things bring me back to my childhood in Roselle, New Jersey. Who needs videos when these scenes are so vivid in my mind, like unspoiled footage on an 8mm film?
Just walking around the first floor of my house on Thursday mornings and putting a little water in the splattering of potted plants has me lost in thought of my mother talking to her plants as she lovingly tended to them. She not only watered them, but she also snipped and fed and even coated their leaves with mayonnaise once per season. At times she gently petted them with milk.
Some of my houseplants are older than my children but, I haven’t shown them the same attention. Now, my baby grandchildren enjoy touching the leaves on my plants, even if they aren’t nearly as perfect as the ones my mother nurtured.
A picture of Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring with a young fan showed up on Facebook. Instantly, that scene showing the masterful Ali reminded me of my father and three older brothers and their love of the sport. I catapulted back to the mid-1960s, visualizing their playful shouting matches over who would win the championship.
The excitement was palpable as we watched the fights live, saw the replays broadcast on the nightly news, or scoured the newspaper the next day for the details. All eyes were on our small black and white tv, from the vantage point of our linoleum-clad living room floor in Roselle. The noise in the room waned and waxed until after each fight, when the exhausted champ, with one arm raised, was named.
My husband heard the stories so many times that when reading this blog post, he retorted, “They were arguing over Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), fighting Sonny Liston. I think it was your father who said Ali was going to win.” I laughed while acknowledging that our childhood memories have become intertwined.
Instantly, recalling the televised boxing matches of my childhood transports me back to days when my brother Al would take my young son Judd to the gym on occasion when Jesse Ferguson was training in our vicinity. They would drive over and watch him sparring. This memory cascades me from my childhood to that of my children’s. What little things bring back thoughts of your childhood home/family life?
In an article in The New York Times on February 13, 2021, “The Coming Tech Boom,” David Brooks compared the life of someone born in 1900 who lived until 1970 with someone born in 1960 and living today by which technological advances came about over the two lifespans. Thinking about the differences in the world you grew up in and that of your children’s generation, what was the difference between your home life and your children’s?
What effect has the pandemic had on the childhood/home life of our young grandchildren? Has the coronavirus brought back a richness to home/family life? Time will tell.
One of the oldest plants in our conservatory - probably over 40 years old in 2021
Seen on Facebook February 11, 2021:
Muhammad Ali letting a young fan win a fight, 1963.
Judd with his Uncle Alvie and Jesse Ferguson Early 1990s