10 Facts About My Childhood

August 08, 2021

I am encouraged and motivated to share my childhood memories with one of the most amazing people I knew on this platform, @bmjc98. I was supposed to join her challenge but I had known the challenge 30 minutes before the deadline of the entry's submission.

So here I am, sharing with you my most cherished childhood moments. I hope that you will enjoy it and at the same time, you can relate and learn from it.

Note: Please bear with my English and my story writing and excuse my grammar too if there are some lapses. I admit I am not an expert writer. I still have a lot to learn and I believe that this platform is a great avenue for learning and honing my writing skills. Most of the photos I presented are more than 2 decades old which is why they are unclear and blurred.

Childhood memories were the dreams that lingered after we wake-up each day. We spent our entire youth wishing we were older, and now we are wishing that we were younger. That was so ironic. That sad realization that our childhood is over and we were never satisfied spending it. But this is the reality of life, it is a moving cycle that can never be undone. We should accept it and embrace it with open arms.

Our childhood memories will never be forgotten because they are already engraved in our hearts and souls.

CONTENTS:

• I Was a Crybaby after Birth

• Receiving My First Ever Gift and Believing Santa Claus was Real

• Aspiring Dancer and a Singer

• I Hate My Younger Sister

• I Love Animals

• I Love Taking a Bath in a Flooding River

• I Was Addicted to Card Games

• I was an Avid Fan of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"

• I Loved Avocados But Hate It Later

• I Believed in Dwarfs in the Mound

I Was a Crybaby after Birth

When I searched it on google, what I found out about infants crying so hard without reason is this:

Colic is defined as frequent, protracted, and severe crying or fussiness in a healthy infant. Colic is especially aggravating for parents because the baby's pain appears for no obvious reason and no amount of soothing seems to help. These incidents frequently occur in the evening, when both parents are sleepy.

According to my mom, I am the only child who had colic. The rest of my siblings were doing just fine when they were infants.

My mom told me that when I was less than a month old, I was always crying too hard for no reason. She can hardly sleep at night because of me always crying. There were several times that when I cried I held my breath to the extent that my face became grayish or black. That was the time that my mom was really scared to death and ask for the old folk's advice.

The folks said that my mom should get someone older to be my godparent, that is the only way to treat my colic.

I only had one godmother and that was my grandma, sister of my grandfather. According, to my mom my godmother was already 65 years old at that time. My mom said, that I was being taken by my godmother for an hour after my christening and my mom did not have any idea what my godmother did to me. Perhaps, whatever my godmother did, had worked because the colic thing had gone from my system and my parents were not bothered any longer at night.

Receiving My First Gift Ever and Believing Santa Claus was Real

It is a tradition, that every Christmas the godparents will give gifts to their godchild or godchildren. My siblings had lots of gifts because they have 3-5 godparents. I was totally jealous because I never received any Christmas gifts because my only godparent died three months before Christmas and I was only 7 months old at that time.

This was my typical routine during Christmas- not receiving any gifts. I was not so much excited every Christmas but when I heard about Santa Claus I felt hopeful to receive a gift from him.

I studied grade one at 7 years old, there was no kindergarten before and our school was not fully developed. We only had two rooms at that time with only two teachers. At first, our school was called primary school since the grade levels were only up to grade four. The first room was occupied by grades 1 and 2 and the other room was occupied by grades 3 and 4. Two grade levels were fused with one teacher.

When I finished grade one my parents were very happy since I got the first honor and because of that my, father gave me a gift I cannot forget- the first gift ever. I can still remember the contents of the gift those were a pink lunch box and several candies inside it. I was too happy with the first gift I received.

I often rant and felt sad, during Christmas since I got no gifts. When my parents heard about it they told me to be kind because Santa Claus might give me a gift on Christmas eve. It was on Christmas day and I was 8 years old when I received a gift that I believed to be from Santa Claus. From then on, when Christmas is about to come, I was particularly too kind and avoid being naughty during those days.

I was about 13 years old when I knew that Santa is not real and those gifts I received every year were from my parents.

Aspiring Dancer and a Singer

It was also during the first grade that I felt like I love dancing. I dreamed to be a celebrity dancer even though I never understand those things before. I was so happy if people praised me that I was a good dancer. I was really overconfident and I never felt shy when I was dancing. I participated in dancing activities in school programs.

I also felt that I was a good singer when I was in grade four. I joined an amateur singing contest in our barangay during the fiesta celebration. I was the only child during the contest, my opponents were adults ranging from the age of 20-50 years old (see how overconfident I was at that time). I was too happy when I received P100 as a consolation prize.

I lost my enthusiasm for developing my talents when I was 14 years old. That was the time when I lost both my parents. After losing them I also lost the "happy me". I felt that I have become a totally different person from a jolly child to a lonely teen.

I Hate My Younger Sister

During my childhood, I always treat my younger sister as an enemy. Probably because I often got jealous of the attention my parents gave to her, maybe that is the perks of being the youngest-getting too much attention and favor from the people around. Most of the time when my parents had something for us, my younger sister will always have a good share. In terms of household chores, she will always have simple things to do or even not doing chores at all. During the sleeping time, she will always be with my parents while I and my other sisters were sleeping in the living room. During playtime, she will always cry so loud if she had something she wanted, that I won't give. When my parents, heard our commotion we will be spanked too hard together but the thing was she was just spanked so mildly but I was spanked so hard.

That was why when our parents were not around I will always annoy her to the point that she will cry so hard and it was so odd that it made me happy. I was longing for revenge every time I can feel that she was favored so much by my parents and my older siblings.

But right now, we are the best of friends. When we have the time to talk, we cannot sleep for the whole night because of so many topics to tell and I love my sister so much.

When I matured and have kids, I did understand my parents why the youngest will always receive the highest favor, because it is also my experience right now. I favored my youngest child over the eldest thinking that my youngest is weaker and needs so much guidance. But thinking about my experience before with my younger sister, I am cautious and careful about things so that my eldest son could not feel the same feeling as I felt before. I will always see to it that I treat my kids fairly and squarely.

I Love Animals

My father was a bread vendor and at the same time, he was a farmer too. We had some animals such as carabao, pigs, and goats. We also had pets like dogs and cats. What was fascinating was, I named all the animals in our household including the lizard. I can still remember when I named our carabao "Mila", our pig "Roqueta" since she will be slaughtered during the fiesta in honor of our patron saint Sr. San Roque. Our goats were named "Emiliana and Emily". Our dog was named Brando. Our cats were named "Wiwaw and Wiwiw" and our lizard is called "Liz". I really love animals to the point that I will talk to them. That was the reason why I was bullied by my classmates in school calling me "Ligaya" the crazy woman in town who always had cats and dogs with her.

Today, we still have animals such as cows, pigs, dogs, and cats. The only difference is I won't talk to them anymore, my youngest son does. He has the same fascination with animals like me.

I Love Taking a Bath in a Flooding River

When I was in grade 2, I loved the rain. When it rained, I often left my bag in the classroom so that I can bathe in the rain. My older sister was in grade four at that time and we were together bathing in the rain with some of our classmates and friends. There is a river on our way home, and every time it rained there was a flood too. We were too happy to see the flood because it was really nice to swim with a lot of water in the river. That was always our routine when it rained. Until one day, our uncle saw us swimming in the flooding river. He was too angry at us to the point that he told us that he will spank us if we will not take off in the river. I was shocked because I had never seen him before acting so mad. When I went home with my sister, we were punished by our father and we were told to face and kneel before the altar with salt on our bare knees. It was too painful. My father explained to us how scary it was to bathe in the river when it rained because we can drown ourselves if the current of the flood was too strong. From then on, we stopped bathing in the river, we were not thinking of the bad things that could happen to us. We were only thinking about the fun and enjoyment.

Right now, when I remembered those experiences bathing in the flooding river, I am too scared to imagine what if there was a severe flood all along. I could not think what will happen to us back then. I am very grateful to God that He did not let those terrible things happen to us.

I Was Addicted to Card Games

When I was in grade four, I often go with my father to the neighborhood to play card games. I was tasked to collect the "kalas". I do not know what is the term in English, but it is like this, my father had playing cards, and right after every game the winner gives 25 cents to my father as the owner of the card as if it is a sort of rent to the cards and I was the keeper of the money. I will be very happy if my father and his friends will play "tong-its" since if there were many "kalas" my father gave me my fair share. Exposing myself to card games, I became an expert in playing "tong-its" to the point that I will help my father to win each game. I taught my friends to play cards and influenced them to gamble too. That was the time that I got so addicted to playing cards. There was a time that my opponents were older than me like my older brother's age. My parents did not know about my gambling sessions but my classmates did. I was forced to mellow down a bit when one of my classmates told me to tell my gambling activities to our teacher. Because I was afraid that I would not be the first honor in our class, I stopped a little but if my playmates were my neighbors the same age as me, we played cards in secret.

I was an Avid Fan of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"

When I was in grade four, there was a fiction TV series entitled "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". The series was aired every Friday. I can still remember the cast vividly: Red ranger-Jason, Blue ranger-Billy, Black ranger-Zack, Pink ranger-Kimberly, Yellow ranger-Trini, Green Ranger-Tommy, Ayayay-the robot, and Zordon the person in the big aquarium hehe... Because of my fascination with these fictional heroes, I did emulate one of the characters, my favorite ranger, Trini. In school, I formed a group with my friends, of course, we called our group "Power Rangers". I practiced how to split how to kick and even how to jump off with one leg still standing on the ground. My classmates never messed with me or else I will kick them like Trini. I became too famous to all the children in the neighborhood. Even the boys would bow at me, I felt like I was the leader of the gang at that time hehe...

I think this was one of the funniest moments in my childhood. That when I meet some of my classmates in grade school, they will still remember me as Trini, the yellow ranger hehe...

I Love Avocados but Hate It Later

I love most of the fruits. But avocados, I stopped loving it. Most people love to eat these fruits. Avocados could be mixed with condensed milk with the use of a blender or just by crashing it with the use of a spoon. It can also be made as ice candy and ice cream. There are ample desserts that could be made with avocados.

I did not hate avocados at first, in fact, I super love them but there was an incident in my life that made me hate avocados.

I was in grade 5 back then when the incident happened.

It was Sunday, our teacher told us to go to school to clean, for on the next day we will have visitors. On the school premises, there was an avocado tree bearing many fruits. There were too many fruits that my male classmates got many of them. But the problem was, even the small and unripened ones, were taken as well. There were so many fruits under the tree including the little ones. When our teacher saw it, he was really angry and called all of us inside the classroom. He said that we were our classmates' allies since we did not tell our classmates to stop taking the fruits. He summoned all the boys to gather all the avocados from the ground and put them on his table. There were so many avocados and our teacher told us to eat all of them. We were only ten at that time and we were required to finish eating the avocados or else we cannot go home. So, we ate the raw avocados, without any condensed milk or sugar to sweeten them. After eating my part, I felt an extreme headache and I was vomiting the whole time. On the next day, I got a fever and was not present in the class for 2 days. My teacher felt guilty about it and asked for an apology.

That is the reason why I hate avocados. Seeing those fruits reminds me of that awful experience back then.

I Believed in Dwarfs in the Mound

I can still remember my grandpa telling some stories about dwarfs in the mound. He often told us some bedtime stories about dwarfs living in the mound. He said, that a long time ago there were dwarfs living in the mound and if the dwarfs are white they are good and if they are black they are bad and scary. He added, that if you will make friends with the white dwarfs you will be given rewards, and all that you've asked for in life like riches, good health, and good luck would be given and you can ask for three wishes by then.

I took the story of my grandpa to heart and I believed it so much. One day, I and my friends searched for a mound. But then we did not find one everywhere until we've stopped and forgotten about it for a while.

When I was in grade 6, I heard about a certain school that offered a scholarship for the poor. The thing was, I will be away from my family I can only see them twice a year during visiting days and summer vacation for two weeks. I found it very interesting to embark on a new journey although my parents did not like the idea that I would be away from them I was too persistent. I was the first student in my school who studied there because most of the students were afraid to be away from their families. I took and passed the exam. I was scheduled to go to school in April in the year 1998 after my elementary graduation.

A week before, my scheduled time going to school, I found a mound when I was gathering some woods in the meadows. I was very happy at that moment. I told my friends about it but they were afraid that the dwarfs living there were black and might harm us. There was also a bit of hesitation in my heart but I was too determined to try. I was planning to go to the mound and talk to the dwarfs living there an hour before I will depart our home to school. I was thinking that if ever they will harm me they cannot find me anymore because I will be away from home. That morning I told my mom, that I must say goodbye to my best friend, but I was actually going to the mound and talk to the dwarfs. I was collecting all the courage I have going there. I prepared the things that I would say. My grandpa said before, that one should wish three things to the dwarfs.

These were the things that I wished to the dwarfs:

• Please make my family rich.

• Please keep my family safe and sound.

• Please helped me achieved my goals in life.

After wishing those things, I felt really afraid and ran so fast as I could. I was too scared thinking that the black dwarfs were the ones who reside in the mound. As I ran away, I frequently turned my back to check if the black dwarfs were behind me.

Up until now, once I remember the memory of the dwarfs and the mound, I cannot help myself by laughing so hard. I considered this experience as the funniest of all.

Those were the childhood experience I cherished the most.

If time travel is real, I do not want to go to my life's other timeline but my childhood days. My childhood days taught me a lot of lessons in life. These are the memories that no matter where life takes me, I will still ponder, reminisce, and never forget those great experiences that made me who I am now.

I will take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported and upvoted my two short humble articles @carolinacardoza @Lucy Stephanie. Those who upvoted my comments in their articles @bmjc98,@Cineholic,@Princessbusayo, @MizLhaine,@dziemfem,@mhy09, @Eunoia. Maybe for you, the things you did were just simple gestures but it gives me too much happiness and joy that for the first time I was noticed here in read. cash. I wish all of you more blessings! May God will always reward your good heart.

This is all for today my dearest friends. Thank you for patiently reading my modest piece of writing.

I will be very glad to read your comments below so that I can improve my writing skills next time.

God bless everyone and keep safe always.

Love Lots,

Soledad 💕💕💕