A distant glimpse of home

I'm back from England and the first leg of my home pilgrimage.  In fact I've been back for some time now.  To say that I'm still digesting would be a bit of an understatement.  I have photographs, notes, and diagrams that I'm still putting together into....something.....but mostly a lot of churning recollections that come into focus fleetingly and then they're gone again.  The good news is that I was able to visit both of my first two homes, meet the wonderful people who live in them now, and through their incredible generosity wander freely through the rooms where I first opened my eyes, took my first steps and, according to one unverified report from a family member, where I peed on the floor a few times as well.

One of the biggest happy surprises of the adventure was the discovery that one of these two homes is still owned by the people who purchased the house from my parents almost 50 years ago.  They told me that when they came to look at the house, they saw me playing footie in the back garden.  It was a bizarre sensation to see myself, as I'd been such a long time ago, innocent short-pants barely-in-school Colin, kicking a ball around on the grass.  I expected my habitation of those old spaces to trigger thoughts and memories -- and it did -- but I hadn't anticipated a distant, tiny image of me as a little boy, in someone else's memory, to unleash such a cascade of feelings.

I'll have more to say soon but I can't rush this.  I want to savour it.

Comments

[Nicole Moen]

Very cool Colin . . . so beautiful and bizarre to realize that we are all filled with all our younger selves. And interesting to revisit them as an adult and hold them in new ways. . . . a fabulous pilgrimage in and of itself.

[Norman Ellard]

So where are the bloody pictures, or do we have to wait for and buy the book?

[Colin]

Thanks for following, Nicole. You're right that all of those strange young creatures are trapped inside our skins and what I'm doing is one way of inviting them to come out to play. Not exactly what I'd expected.

Brother Norman! Book? There's a thought. I've already sent you a couple of images and of course will send more but I won't be publishing photos of the interiors of the houses on a public site. And if there ever is a book, you'll get a free one just like last time :-)