Pine Cones

My daughter use to collect them whenever we went for a walk. She called them pine cones and so I'm sticking to it. I never bothered to check what they were actually called. So even if I'm wrong, it's okay.

You can find them all over the ground near STO building and many other parts of the city. She liked them so much and wanted to bring them home. And once home, she would throw them, keep them in her bedroom and literally...the pine cones would be littered all over our apartment.

The funniest part is, it was me who always stepped on them. And boy did it hurt! Oh yes it did! It was pure agony and torture. I sometimes threw them too....I'm sorry Mal and Mummu. Yes, even my son started bringing them home. Probably because his big sister was so fond of them. And my son loved to throw things. So go ahead and guess what he would do with the pine cones. Oh yes, he would place then in the living room and on the exact spot mommy walks,

Any way, I never thought back then that these little pine cones that we find on the ground could be something so meaningful to me. Now, everyday as I walk up and down the lane that leads to our faculty, I'm reminded of my children running around picking them up. I'm reminded of how much my daughter loved to keep them in a jar. I am reminded of how much my son loves to throw them around. And the memories of stepping on them zillions of times in the past brings warm happy feelings to my heart. It's so huge that it bursts through my hurt and flows from eyes in the form of happy tears.

So what do I do? Hahaa! Yes, I collect them and sit on the bench before coming back to the hostel. I hold them in my palms and feel the pointy sharp edges. I go back in time for a second or two and I can see my sweet Mal and Mummu running in front of me and picking the little pine cones and asking me to put them in my pocket.

I don't walk over them or step on them and crush them anymore. They are very special to me now because they remind me of my children and brings back sweet memories of my home that I miss so dearly.

Now mommy has her own collection of little pine cones in her room too! Yay!