But I Smile Anyway…

Having another go at Maggie and Laurens, Throwback Thursday challenge! This week it is Maggie who has set the questions.

This week’s prompt is: Secrets, Hiding Places and Niches.

1. Did you keep a diary or a journal? If so, where did you keep it? I kept various diaries over the years, but I was never one to manage a continuous one. I still have the part diaries, and I love reading them. This terrible habit of not finishing is still with me. I have a one like a day five-year journal, and I have been trying to keep it for about three years, but I’ve still not completed a year!
2. Did you have treasures or money you hid from siblings or parents? No, I really didn’t have anything of value that they weren’t aware of!
3. Did you have a need to hide things your parents would not approve of, like cigarettes, etc.? As a child this was something highly unlikely. However, during the college/university years, there might have been a few things. but instead of things, it was relationships! Eek! As an adult, I am always hiding my favourite snacks from the family…
4. Thinking back, describe your most creative hiding place. There was never anything really creative, just specific drawers, or under the mattress!
5. Did you have a tin box or safe or a diary with a lock? I had one diary with a lock and key, and a piggy bank shaped like a little Barclays Bank that had a combination lock!
6. What about yourself? Did you ever have a favorite get away spot or hiding place? Not so much a hiding place, but I loved squirrelling away in my bedroom with a good book. Some things never change!
7. If you did not feel the need to hide away, where did you go for a little alone time? If the weather was good, I would sit on the swing in our garden, or again, in my bedrooom
8. If you had siblings, did they hide things from you? If so, what types of things? I don’t think my brother and I ever really wanted the same things, to hiding them was no worry. However, he liked to hide unpleasant things for me to find… like catching Daddy Long Legs in an empty cotton bud container, then offering me one, with the lid on, only for me to scream at the sight of the gangly legged creatures trapped inside! Typical brother!
9. Now that you are an adult, do you still have little niches where you hide things away, like mad money, treasured letters, etc? I only wish I had mad money to hide away. I think I am more often than not, hiding the bills, from myself! As I mentioned above, I do hide my favourite snacks in places the kids won’t find them,(they are gannets, as teens tend to be!), and I have little boxes filled with treasured letters, cards and items, but they aren’t so much hidden, as in safe places.
10. When you feel the need to be alone, to where do you retreat? I have a couple of places I could go, in my home. My bedroom is one sanctuary, then, I have my writing room with its reading nook or the summer house. But sometimes, the best place is in my classroom, after the rest have left. Peace from my class, some colleagues and the noise of my teen-aged family!

There you have it! I’ll try to be on this, on the actual Thursday, next week!