The house where I grew up was an embarrassment. Then. Funny how death changes our perception of things. Our living room was my mum’s temple. It was the room where she displayed victory over poverty. The mantel was crammed with her trophies. A leather donkey with a striped blanket on its back. Castanets from Benidorm. A recipe for paella in a gaudy gilt frame.
I hated that room with its climbing ivy wallpaper. The squiggly orange carpet. The poster with fairy lights blinking on and off. It was a sunset shot of a Caribbean island, complete with china ducks in flight.
Dad didnt mind sitting in a curiosity shop. He didnt mind the sideboard stuffed with junk. Didnt mind the plastic matador with a willy, that pee’d when you pressed its head.
Mum would giggle like a schoolgirl. ‘Got that in Torremolinos,‘ she’d say with pride.
I’d give anything to watch the sun go down with her on that Caribbean island. I can hear her voice.
‘Cocktail, dear?’ It’s got a bit of pineapple floating on top. She’s wearing a straw hat with cherries on the fringe.
Oh, what I wouldnt give to go back to that living room.
– Exactly, but exactly, as it was.
jaylengrace 
Sounds like a very interesting woman. 🙂 I think everyone is embarrassed of their parents when they’re growing up.
Memory is a strange thing. Memories of our loved ones exude warmth and love. We can do anything to relive those memories. I understand how you feel when you think about that living room and the memories associated with it.
The best way is to cherish these memories. You cannot bring them back. What you can do is to remember them and be thankful for them. You got loving parents and that is a blessing from god. Just hold these memories and they will give you courage to go on.
What a beautiful sentiment Sharon. Let’s bless every parent in the world.
This happens to me also. I never liked the house in which I grew up. I found it dingy and small and always wanted to move to a bigger house. But strangely, now when I think about it and feel like going back. memory has a strange way of working.
It’s funny what people will get sentimental about. There’s all kinds of things that when I grew up I hated but I feel very sentimental about now because they’re a part of my childhood. There’s also things that I loved as a child, and then thought that as I grew up I’d want nothing to do with. I’d saved all these toys for my own children and recently went to get some of them from my dad’s house and suddenly I was hit with this nostalgia. I’d found things I’d long forgotten, and fallen in love with them again.
I love reading your comments. You reminded me of lots of other things I hadnt thought about in years