It is 7am on a Sunday. I love this time of day on Sunday..the roads are quiet and putting pen to paper is easier ..I can think undisturbed 🙂 My story continues..enjoy..
‘LIfe was tough for your mother living without a husband and you did all you good to help out, especially since you were the eldest of three siblings. Your mother, my grandmother, realised you were blessed with a good brain and pushed you into university where you qualified as a pharmacist. Not many women obtained degrees in your time so you were one of a few. One of the best things that came out of the university life was meeting your husband, our Dad! You were both in the same medical course and both decided to stop at the Pharmacist level.
Your university lives were happy ones. Yes, of course you had to study, but the social life was also part of it and the photos show the fun and happiness of those years.
I also remember the large bicycles that ‘lived’ in our yard at home. You both used to ride as teenagers and well into your twenties. You must have stopped when Dad bought his first car. Life was simple then. Just take a look at the older photos of Malta. There wasn’t the madness on the roads and in the streets that we have today.
You had three children, the youngest of whom is me, coming after two boys. I remember Dad always discouraging you from cutting my hair and letting it grow so long I could sit on it.
This is one of my fond memories of my young childhood, so much more is just a blur. I say this because the last twelve years of your life hijacked so much of the other pictures, episodes and happiness of my younger days.
Dad had a very good job and life was comfortable. You had bags and shoes to match, which I admired so much. You loved the different colours of costume jewellery, some of which I still have today. They were bright and all shades and shapes. I never stopped admiring them as they sat in mum’s dressing table for many years. I kept a few and they are now part of my grandchildren’s dressing up set, waiting for them to grow a little and enjoy them, as you did Mum.
Dad worked at Bighi and Mtarfa hospitals with the Royal Navy. He loved his job and worked with the English for 20 years. So well respected, I will always remember the smile on his face as he left for work every morning. You were both happy and that part of your lives remains imprinted in my head. Who would ever thought how life would change?’
How does one pay to see the future? If you are one of those, I have to call you crazy 🙂