Everything has a story

There are those ‘deja vu-esque’ moments in life where you look upon a place, or person, and are hit with a wave of realisation. The latest of these for me occurred on Christmas Day this year as I visited my grandparents up in the hills. This staircase, while seemingly average, small and sturdy hosts many memories in the halls of my mind that strongly contradict these realities today.
My brother remarked how small the staircase seems now. We both remember it being gigantic as little kids, almost scary at times. Now we can clear it in 3 steps and all seems easy in the world. I remember wearing socks and struggling to get up and down on a cold winter’s night to join my family for dinner. I remember many things about this old staircase which gives it special significance, and a place in my mind.
The most entertaining memory I have of it occurred when I was around 12 years old. I was staying for the Christmas holidays and I had a crush on the neighbour’s daughter who was (I believe) 13. I worked up the courage and asked her over for movies and by some miracle she agreed – not bad right? Well after all that you’d think I could handle anything, and you’d be wrong. The day came and she arrived and by all accounts she was excited to watch this movie (Turned out to be X-men 1, so I mean… how good could it go?) but there was a snag… My nerves had got the best of me and I could not, for the life of me, will myself out of the bathroom and down this staircase. It seemed like I was at the summit of a great mountain. The hard part had surely been done – the scaling of such a peak, but as I now had the chance to descend I was paralyzed with fear. I hid up there for a good 45 minutes (or so my Grandma says) until I eventually plucked up the courage and began my walk downstairs… Issue was I forgot there were 7 steps and not 6. The sound of my body meeting the floor below was at once deafening and embarrassing and it brought around a great silence as I attempted to regather what dignity I might have left.
I can’t help but think back to that day and how the staircase betrayed me and I laugh. How could something so simple and innocent as this staircase house such powerful memories? I guess it’s what you do with an item that gives it value. This staircase is a friend and a foe and now that i’ve grown up and tamed it I can find the value in such experiences.

Merry Christmas everyone
Maybe this gave you some cheer 😉

Here are some photos of my Christmas Day spent running around my Grandparents garden with my new camera

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA