unravelling: memories

Last week on the unravelling course was memories week. Or maybe it was the week before. I am a little behind, and the task of digging though the box of unsorted photographs that represents my life so far was daunting. I decided not to do it, and went for recent memories instead, plus a couple of older photos that I had on my computer already.

The first pair are both school photographs. In the class photograph I am the tallest child in the class, a full head above the other children. I hated being tall and standing out. By the time I was eleven I was over 5 feet six inches in height. As I grew older I started to quite like being tall -  then I stopped growing not long after that and was left at 5 feet 8, which I still am - on the tall side, but not particularly so.

The next pair of photographs are of me and my friend Debbie. We were best friends from the first day of Infant School aged 4, though sadly this seems to be the only photograph of us from that time. The second photograph was from my wedding this past April.

The next photos are the first pictures the Prof and I ever saw of each other. We met on a dating website and I thought his personality just shone out of his face. he looked friendly, funny, kind - and he is all of those things. He loved my smile and says he knew right away he would like me. The rest is history!

More photos of our wedding. I love both of these, we look so happy.

I have a huge box of photographs to go through, it's a job that has been hanging over me for years, and that I never get around to. Truthfully, I don't really want to do it. Although I take quite a lot of photos, I don't tend to look back at them, certainly not one from years ago. When I do, I find endless shots of landscapes and zoo/farm animals that it must have seemed like a good idea to photograph at the time but now I don't even remember where and when they were taken. I also find photographs of people and relationships that are no longer in my life, some I don't particularly want to remember. In amongst them though, are the gems - all the photographs I have of my son as a baby and growing up, photos of family occasions and holidays, pictures of friends I don't see often these days. I know there are photos in there that I would like to have on display, too. Maybe it is about time I waded through all those memories, threw out the ones I don't want and did something with the ones I do.

The reincarnation of Olly Cushion

On honeymoon in Bath, we saw these owl cushions for sale, and the Prof bought this one for me.

When I was small, maybe four or five, I had a cushion with the face of an owl. His name was Olly Cushion. This one isn't the same as my Olly Cushion, but he reminds me of him. I think the original Olly was green. I used to take him in the car to sleep on, back in the days when there were no seat belts in cars and parents would let their children lie down on the back seat. He was named after Olly Beak, a character on children's television. I'm not sure if I used to watch the programme, I don't remember Olly Beak from his photograph. Perhaps my parents named Olly Cushion. Recently someone mentioned another children's television character to me, Humphrey Cushion, who I immediately remembered. I think my Olly Cushion's name may have been a mixture of the two.

Humphrey Cushion

Olly Beak

When our family car was stolen, Olly was inside, as was my my baby brother's car seat. The police later recovered the car and the car seat, but not Olly. I remember not understanding why the car seat was returned to us and Olly Cushion wasn't. I wonder now if the car thieves gave him to a child, or did he get tossed aside in a dustbin, or the gutter?

Perhaps there is a woman or man somewhere today who treasures the green Olly Cushion from their childhood. Even if their father/uncle/cousin stole him.