I Have Grown!

If you expected this post to be a lengthy, thought provoking, (boring?) one about how I've grown from being an impulsive, scatterbrained, daydreaming girl into a mature, deep thinking woman, then you're wrong. Because it isn't about that. I'm still on the journey to maturity, remember?

Yes, it's about growing. But not that kind.

Size.

I've grown in size. ;-) (some people call it fat.) I now weigh as much as i did when I was pregnant with Nanma. And no, I wish I was carrying my 2nd baby, but I'm not.

But that wasn't what really I wanted to discuss here.

I've grown in size - from being a chirpy, imaginative 5 year old to a chirpy, imaginative almost 30 year old! And last weekend, I was reminded of how different the world looks through the eyes of a child.

You see, last weekend I had the opportunity to visit my childhood hometown - where I lived from when I was a wee baby till I turned 5. We had a family wedding at CMC Vellore - My first home. I have said earlier on this blog that I have vivid memories of my early childhood and I think it's mainly because I had such a happy one. I remember all my best friends and neighbours from when I was 3. So this weekend was a trip down nostalgia lane.

Here's why I said I have grown...

My old school - Vidyalayam. Between the wedding and the reception, I left my daughter with her grandparents and ran to peek in. I remembered exactly where it was. But much to my amazement, the school seemed tiny. The gate came up to my waist! The "big childrens slide" that preschoolers like me weren't allowed on, was only as big as the one my daughter plays on now! It made me wonder how small the "small slide" actually was! The boulders that my best friend Tina and I played on were just small rocks. I could jump over them with no effort at all.

The quaint corner store where my family bought there provisions and where I would manage to charm medical students into buying me Appy ..... is not a corner store at all! It looks just like any other department store.

The "Big Bungalow" isn't as HUGE as I thought it was. There are no marble curtains (my imagination?) and the lawns behind it don't stretch on forever.

In the auditorium there is the bust of the founder - Dr Ida Scudder. I could actually reach up and touch her face!! I had never been able to see beyond her nose as a child!

Every one of my parents' friends I met remarked at how I look just like my mother, and of how Nanma looks just like I did at her age!

P.E.R.S.P.E.C.T.I.V.E

The contrast between my memories and what I saw as an adult last weekend was mind numbing. For 1 day, my mind felt disjointed from my body.

It was wierd..... realising I had grown!

But I did want Nanma to experience some of the fun I had. So while the guests waited in a loooooooong queue to ggreet the newly married couple, I took my high heeled shoes off and ran up and down the ramp at the auditorium with Nanma singing "Uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill" just like I used to 24 odd years ago. And it was F.U.N!!