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Rekindling with your childhood hobby
There is something fascinating about your childhood self.
Written by Vu Bao Thu Nguyen Illustrated by Isabella Restrepo Photographed by Lam Ngoc Do Designed by Gabi Olenicz
23
here you were with little hands and little feet, pigtails and your gummy smiles, easy laughters and even easier tears. Supposedly as a kid, there were things that charmed you to no end. You liked looking at your mom braiding your sister’s hair before class while fighting back the urge to fall asleep again; you liked playing tag with your friends during recess, both your knees and elbows still vividly remember those days; you liked going to the nearby supermarket with mom, and clinging on to her while standing on those scary escalators; and you also liked to read, those books with mom’s signature, date and place written at the front page, mom said it was for memories.
You always look back to your childhood and just admire how you liked things in the past and compare yourself to the person you are now. It’s funny how you could play tag, run around the schoolyard and be genuinely happy, now you flat out refuse to engage in any activities that can accelerate your heartbeats; or how you could spend hours and hours reading, too short to even reach the top of the book shelf, and be completely content, now one book is even hard to read, and 45 minutes of reading is already the biggest achievement. There have been many attempts to regain that part of yourself, because reading seems like too good of a dream to let it go forever. You feel like a tiny little leaf falling from a tree, into a river that flows and carries you on a journey of exploring how to feel, how to love, how to sympathize, how to hate, how to be angry, to stay afloat and to drown, to live in someone’s journey that you turn into your own.
You liked to read, mom also likes to read, you want to like to read again.
“Mom, I want that book for my birthday!” and she will write “For my dear daughter,” on the first page. “Mom, can you buy me a souvenir when you fly home?” and she will bring home a book that clearly can be purchased at the local bookstore, but she gets to write a different city name - “Nha Trang”. “Mom, this book is super cool” and she will tell you that’s her favorite as well.