Marc Armitage - Thought Crime
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Cherished Possessions

Cherished Possessions

a \‘shȯrt-rēd’\ piece

Do you have any cherished possessions saved from your childhood? I certainly do, all of which have a special place on my shelves at home, each with its own important memory attached.

For example, I have a very tiny posh bone china cup and saucer decorated with a number of folktale characters that was bought for me so that I could join in with the cake and coffee ritual for visiting relatives. I particularly remember it coming out most Sundays when my Auntie Mitzi would come round bringing me my weekly Milky Way chocolate bar and a copy of the comic Whizzer & Chips.

There is also ‘Moby’ which is a carved whale mounted on a plaque that I made in woodwork. This was always proudly displayed on the wall of my parents house and served as a talking point because I had accidentally broken the tail off while sanding it down. My teacher had told me not to worry as he would glue it back on but when he did he put it on upside down! It is fairly obvious when you look at it.

The vast majority of our most precious childhood items tend not to survive into adulthood, though, because the most important things to us at the time tended to be rather simple and ephemeral. My most prized possession is just one of these. It is my elephants egg.

This is quite a hefty sized dark brown stone that I discovered as a four year-old at a place called Cannock Chase (a national park in the UK). The exact date and place of discovery is recorded on it together with a few flowers in now fading paint.

When I first found this and brought it for my mother to see, she said “That's a elephants egg, that is. You need to look after that and keep it warm and one day it will hatch out into an elephant.” I believed her of course and in fact still do which is why it has travelled the world with me and still has pride of place on the shelf.

One day, perhaps one day very soon, it will hatch and just as my mother promised I shall have my very own elephant. I’ll bet you don’t have one of those.

#playconversation #playmemories #looseparts #justsaying

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