Winter

Today I walked in the rain. After years! I had to, because my car was in the garage and I had to walk to get it. A gentle rain that gave a texture to the air I breathed and recalled memories of my childhood.

Back then, my sister and I, went to the elementary school and our parents did not have a car to pick us up. We used to walk in the rain, without an umbrella. We were running, not get wet, but that was not possible, we were becoming soaked. On our way back from school, we had to go through a field of crops. There was a muddy path, we had to cross, and we used to laugh when our shoes were packed with mud and looked like heels. So much our shoes were loaded with mud that they were becoming higher a few centimetres!

As we got home, our mother waited for us with hot water to put our feet in and water boiling in a pot, with eucalyptus leaves (she used to walk almost half a kilometre to bring them) for us to inhale, and not get sick! after we were getting warm up, we used to sing a children’s song, dancing in the hallway:

It’s raining, it’s snowing, the marbles are getting wet.
The cat is cooking, and the mouse is dancing…

Tender moments of warmth and love, a period gone by, but left its memories, memories of winter, rain, and the smell of eucalyptus in our small kitchen ….