1968

My first impressions (as a child) while I saw my mother writing ...

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1968

 

 

During the spring of 1968, little Jo is barely three, yet she is mesmerised by the little notes her mother writes every day before she goes out shopping for groceries. Little Jo likes shopping at the supermarket, because it means that her mum has to buy loads of stuff like meat, steak, bread, milk, vegetables (preferably red cabbage and spinach, the latter because Jo likes Popeye the sailor man), butter, sugar, salt and pepper too, jelly, chocolate paste, strawberries, a big bag of potatoes, tomatoes, sometimes a comic book called ‘Donald Duck’ as well …

 

Or … does she rather prefer the ritual before the shopping?

The kid is as little as a shrimp, yet she knows all the neighbours names by heart. She cannot take in the fact that every time her mum goes on a shopping spree in the supermarket, she needs to take a little paper out of a drawer and feels the need to swear when she is not able to find her favourite pencil. Why does mum need to do all that scribbling before they can finally go? The little kid wants to know … Her mum is holding the paper with her left hand, while going frantically through all of the kitchen cupboards, then returning to the kitchen table, pulling out a chair and after sitting down mummy starts scribbling down what look like ‘M’ like drawings to her. At that point, the daily ritual does not make any sense to her …

Anyway, once the list finished, they were taking off to the supermarket…

 

At last!

 

They are off now! The walk to the supermarket is not very long and yet little Jo cannot wait to get there, impatient as she is to find out what the little paper full of ‘M’s’ has to do with food.

As they arrive, Jo feels a little tired and starts sulking: ’Mummy, can I sit in the trolley please?’

Mum picks her little treasured daughter up and sets her down gently in the trolley’s children’s seat. From there, she has got an excellent view of what is going to happen next: her mother takes the carefully kept note out of her pocket and looks at it with a slightly wrinkled forehead …

 

Little Jo is still a bit puzzled… Why does mummy have to see the ‘M’s’ before she will pick something out of the shelves? Does not her mother know what she likes to eat?

Suddenly Jo has enough and cries out: ‘Mummy, I want spinach!’

Her mother knows where this is coming from and gives her little girl a hug: ‘Yes, dear, I do know you like watching Popeye! We will get to the spinach later…’ The little girl is put at ease: mummy has not forgotten! Then she sees mummy picking up a carton of milk and shortly afterwards, striking out on of the ‘M’s’, and another, another … till mummy decides that they can go home since they have everything on the list, even the much desired spinach and the ‘Donald Duck’ comic book!

 

Jo now thinks there must be some link between the ‘M’s’ and the goodies …

Interesting …

 

 

 

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think ... should I continue?
I hereby admit that I liked spinach and Popey at the age of three and that I did have a subscription to Donald Duck's magazine from the age of 3 till I turned ... 13!

Reviews

[J. James Reider]

I like this... If you continued the story, I would write it as your language progresses. I can't remember if you said you were a native English speaker, or Dutch, my apologies as my short term memory is nothing compared to my long term capabilities.

The observations are quite vivid, and it is well penned and delicately thought out. I say that yes, you should go on with it... See where that road leads you (:

it is light.

I will have to see a few more chapters to be able to tell if you should :)

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

Yes continue this is such a nice lighthearted story of mother daughter bonding... I really got a huge smile while reading this.

[KAREN BROWN]

young children are very observant of whats going on around them and they have a lot of questions cause of their curiosity. you wrote this so well i was very impressed you did a great job with this.thank you for sharing this.karen

[R J Askew]

Well this caught me out! A totally unusual 1968 story. Could hear the chair scraping on the floor and thought the elevation to the trolly seat charming. But my strongest impression was of how acute the memory is and how perceptive the observations were. I wonder what mum would have thought had she been able to find out that 40 years on the minute details of her shopping routine would turn up on a web site...'a web what darling?' My feeling is that I might try and make it into a poem. But I think that about everything. As a story it has great charm and innocence and I would read more were you to expand it.

[DeAn]

I agree, it is good to have such a pleasant look back at ones past. wish that it were so for me tho. lol

I like a memoir, this is nice and I am amazed when people can draw memories from such an early age. I can't go back past 9.

:)

thanks for sharing it.

-DeAn

[A LaDy NaMeD D]

I loved this, and yes you should continue.

Danni J

[Dizzy-Izzy]

I love for people to recount memories to me. Other people's stories so much more facinating than my own. I really like this. If you enjoy writing the memories you should definitely continue.

When I picture European's at the market I picture some outdoor thing or small specialty shops for meat, the bakery what have you. I see it a bit differently through your memory looking glass. I like how you refer to the cart, as a trolley, about the view being so much better up there especially of your mother's face...

"From there, she has got an excellent view of what is going to happen next: her mother takes the carefully kept note out of her pocket and looks at it with a slightly wrinkled forehead "

I watched Popeye too. My favorite character was Whimpy, "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Have a great day/evening...
K

[bluessadmood]

this is nice a child always on the watch specially for his mother ,always collecting information here and there,specially the writing very exciting for him,yes you told this in a very nice special way ,as if it a child thats telling his what happened on a certain day like one day diary ,it nice its always nice to learn how children behave ,i really loved it