The Girl with Yellow Shoes

I’ve been reading Malala’s new book. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it but it has been one of the best reads in a long time for me. While I love her writing style, I love her words more. The way she remembers her life makes her so relatable- I feel like a friend is telling me the stories of her life. The significant stories she holds on to are those of joy and happiness versus the one significant bad thing in her life that changed everything for her.

When I think of my significant stories, I remember this one time my best friend and I built a pillow fort and I had a conversation pack of questions that we went back and forth with. One of my questions was to identify three things in my childhood that stood out to me. I started to cry. my childhood, by no means was a bad one, but the memories that initially popped into my head with the question triggered my tears. Then, as much as now, I know that some things just stay with you.

For instance, my kitten had to get neutered and the logical part of my brain knew this was a routine procedure. Normal. Nothing to worry about. This mama doesn’t want grandchildren so it was never a question. It was always going to happen. But I was still so bummy. I trusted my vet completely. I knew my child is healthy. But I knew the last time my pet went under anesthesia; she did not wake up. Logic nothing. I was absolutely terrified.

Because some things just stay with you. (He’s okay though; wearing the cone of shame, but he’s okay.)

Like Malala though, I don’t want to remember my but significant negative events.

When I was small, on Eid mornings, the men in my extended family who went to mosque would pass by everyone’s home before heading to their home. The visits were short. The kids would get money and they’d drink a cup of sawine and head on out. I think it really was my favourite part of the day but it doesn’t happen anymore.

I’m so grateful some things stay with you.

Growing up, we would have the best birthday parties. Musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, a pinata that my uncle always made from scratch, hot potato. It was a good time. On school holidays we would play cricket with the boys in the street making sure we were inside by the time our granpa got home from work. We would ride bikes on the road and spend most of the day outside. Us millennials were so lucky we got to experience childhood before cable tv, cell phones and social media.

We’d never get back those times (unless we have millennial parties) so I’m glad some things stay with you.

When I was high school, I was dealing with a tough situation. I called my best friend at the time and we spent hours on the phone. To this day, I don’t know what she understood through my tears from what she didn’t. When I called, I didn’t know what the support I needed looked like. But she gave it anyway. Although we are no longer best friends, looking back, she held space for me and gave me grace. To this day, I know I was never judged, it was never heard anywhere and she never pried or prodded.

Although things change, some things just stay with you.

Since my friends were from South and I was the only Central person, I didn’t rent up UWI but they did. I’d be on campus all day on most days with long wait times between classes. I don’t ever remember being alone. There was always someone to walk to the bookstore with, someone to eat lunch with or at least three people to run a game of all fours with. While there are those who would think of UWI as stressful, it’d always be the place where I enjoyed the company of my friends; some of whom we would have drifted apart from.

In a world where it seems like we’re just in survival mode, it’s nice that some things stay with you.

I could sit here and fill pages with the things that stay with me, many good, some not so great and some indifferent. Picking apart the things I chose to highlight were those that shone through even when I could have focused on something negative. If you’re reading this, whether you felt a connection to my stories or not; I hope the things that stay with you are beautiful and nostalgic. If they aren’t, I hope you can look further within and find the things that would be the greatest highlights of your life.