Dryxanne’s Confessions

Lately I’ve been out of inspiration to write, so I’ve been kinda copycat or draw inspirations from others’ writings. Like this one below, is inspired from MaRkO’s bulletin, talked about his childhood fun with LEGO.

Well, I’m gonna talk exactly the opposite of Marko, who recollected how much fun he and his brother had, playing with LEGO. It’s not being bitter, it’s recollecting as well, remembering some things I never had compared to other kids.

I wouldn’t say my family was poor, if I had poor parents I wouldn’t have been able to be educated in schools that were considered among the best in the town or city we lived in. It’s just that, growing older, I realize that my parents had difficult situations at times, circumstances where they couldn’t just give us what I and my siblings want, as much as they wanted to. Let’s just say that, living with the in-laws weren’t (and still aren’t, for some people!) as much fun or as free as living alone.

Starting as kindergarten kid, I remember I didn’t have bycicle. I never had one, neither did my brothers. We played with our cousins’ bycicles, and as they weren’t ours, we had to take turns (and be grateful that they lent us or allowed us to use it). I did have kites, marbles, and those "gambar gambar" or little rectangle-shaped cards that were cut from a big rectangle-shaped cartoon that usually contained a story. I did have "kwartet", in fact my kwartet card was the most unique one compared to even my cousins’s cards, because it was bought from the city, which they wouldn’t have in our town.

I had, as a girl, some of the prettiest hair pins, hair bands, hair ribbons, and other hair accesories compared to all my friends, because my Mom liked to decorate my hair, try out new braid models on my long hair. I also had pretty dresses, bought from Jakarta by my Aunt, sent to my town. I remember Chinese New Year was always the exciting time, since I got to flaunt my new pretty dresses. With pretty shiny new red shoes.

And since my Mom was so creative, instead of just buying pajamas, she sewed them for me. I had several pairs of pajamas made by my Mom when I was before 10 years old. They had these pretty hand-sewn decorations on the top. I was so proud wearing them, none of my friends have their Mom’s handsewn pajamas. I don’t know where they are now, perhaps they were traded off for some home appliances when years ago there were travelling traders visiting our house and offered some pans and stuffs for those used clothes. Such a tragic end.

But you know what I never had?

Apart from bycicles, there were many things I and my siblings never had. Things, or toys, that were so popular among kids at that time. Things like Olympic study desk. We never had it, not even until today. Or that Nintendo or Sega or even Atari (the earliest or lower version of Nintendo, I guess). But we did have the gamewatch, the handheld version of that digital toy.

LEGO? No, we never had. My brother had the Monopoly Game, but I never played it. My cousins had it, I think I played with theirs a few times only.

So, when I saw that LEGO City in Senayan City last December, I was purely only amazed on how they could build it up. I always like miniatures of things, of houses on the housing expo, of cars at those collection shops, so I was attracted to LEGO as well when I saw it. But there were so little memories I could dig out. I was excited just because I love those tiny things, not because recollecting the fun I had playing them, simply because I never did have them.

So, if any of my friends are so excited about LEGO, or other childhood toys, like what MaRkO felt, perhaps I wouldn’t be, if those things are among things I didn’t have. There are other stuffs, but I just can’t remember them all now. And you people who got the chance to have them and played with them during your childhood, consider yourself very lucky kids you were.